XANA's WAR
by s. rivers
Summary: After XANA escapes, he starts a war with the world. Odd and Ulrich join the crumbling army to save what's left of France and save Yumi, who was caputured by XANA. Things change, new people come, and the world is left to face XANA.
1. The Resistance

**C**ha_p_ter **O**ne 

The darkness of smoke outside of the bus was almost blinding. Odd shifted nervously in his seat, feeling his duffle bag against his foot. Glancing al all of the other people on the bus, he sighed. These people looked just as old as he was. Most of them had just gotten out of high school. As for him, he was supposed to be a freshman at Kadic Academy.

But there was no Kadic Academy anymore. It was a pile of ashes now. The only building that Odd had seen standing in the last three months was an old factory by the river bank. The factory held XANA, a super computer virus. When he had gotten the keys of Lyoko, it was all over for the Lyoko Team. Yumi was kept prisoner, Aeleta and Jeremy ran off, and Odd and Ulrich fled home.

The smoke outside grew thicker. Odd looked from the window to the drivers seat. He was an old, fat man, who looked tired. The military had had so many under budgets, which was why they were riding to boot camp in a school bus.

The smoke seemed to lessen as the driver screeched the bus to a small base. It was a sorry looking base. It had some green tents with tables outside and men lining up. Most of them men were in there early twenties and teens. Odd figured there would be a lot of young people there. Most of the older men were already gone.

"Come on, maggots," said the officer in the front of the bus. "Move it. The war isn't going to win it's self."

_No, XANA will win it for us, _Odd thought. He grabbed his bags and tried to squeeze through the narrow isle and out the door. It was hot, and he felt some rain drops on his arms. It felt strange, because they were supposedly in a desert. He looked at every person, looking for a certain brown-headed boy.

"Odd!" the shout made him jump and he was tackled from behind.

"Ulrich?" he asked.

"Odd, you idiot! I tried to call you a billion times!" Ulrich yelled and slammed his fist into Odd's stomach.

Odd began coughing. "What was that for?"

"For not bothering to come sooner. We lost a whole platoon yesterday. We need more people."

Odd nodded. "Come on. I'll help you get your things together," Ulrich said and lead him through a mob of guys in green uniforms.

"The younger kids stay here," Ulrich told him, pointing to a saggy old tent with some kids climbing out of it. "It's for the fourteen-year-olds and fifteen-year-olds. They gave us the worst tent."

"That's because we're the worst solders," Odd said. "What can we do? We're fourteen."

"We can do a lot of things. We can fight just as well as any other person in this camp."

Odd shrugged. "Whatever." He studied Ulrich's face, searching for signs of a reaction.

"Any news on Yumi?" he asked in a whisper.

Ulrich's face hardened. He scowled. "No."

"Is she ok?"

"Still alive, if that's what you mean."

Odd looked at the ground. "What about Jeremie and Aelita?"

"Took off somewhere. Who knows?" Ulrich began to sulk. "They don't care about us, or about Yumi. The two love birds just took off and left us. Ha! If Jeremie thinks I'm talking to him again, he's insane."

Odd nodded. He did agree that Jeremie and Aelita had took off, leavening everyone behind. But he didn't like blaming Aelita, because Jeremie probably convinced her to go. She was a little naive, meaning her could convince her to do anything.

"Hurry up," Ulrich said, jumping onto his cot. "Sarge hates it when we're late for any meal."

"Meal?" Odd asked. "It's like 4:30."

"We train all night, so we have to be ready by six. It gets darker then."

"Oh."

Ulrich stared at the ceiling. Odd grabbed some of his cloths and stuffed them in a small box.

"That goes under your bed," Ulrich said. His eyes returned to the ceiling.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Odd asked, smiling. He took his picture of his family and jammed it in his pocket, out of site.

"Do you think Yumi's ok?" Ulrich asked. "I mean, she's been with XANA ever since summer started. Do you think she's alive?"

Odd smiled weakly. "Yeah, of course!"

"Tell the truth."

Odd frowned. "To tell you the truth Ulrich, I don't think she's ok. I think XANA would have killed her by now, or at least tortured her to death. But that's only what I think."

Ulrich looked away. "I can't take it, Odd. This whole war started because of us. Maybe, if we had been better fighters, we wouldn't have let Aelita's get to the scyphozoa."

"Or," Odd said. "Maybe, if Jeremie had took his lazy but into the scanner, he would have saved his lovely girl friend."

Ulrich nodded. "I just can't believe it happened, you know. I mean, it seems so strange." Tears welled up in his eyes, and he looked away. "I want her back, Odd."

Odd looked at the ground. "We have to go to that briefing, right?" he asked. "We don't want to be late."

Ulrich wiped his eyes on his sleeves. "I'll say I got sand in my eyes."

Odd nodded. Ulrich had tried to get Yumi back many times, but each one had failed. For all they knew, Yumi was probably dead, like half of the American army. And Jeremie and Aelita were probably safe and sound. Odd suddenly got mad just thinking about it. Aelita loved Jeremie, who had been to scared to step foot in a scanner to save her?

Ulrich stood up. "She's alive," he said. "I know she is, Odd."

Odd nodded, but didn't reply right away. Instead, he draped his arm around Ulrich's shoulder.

"I believe you."


	2. A Reunion

The desert was _hot_. Even with thick black smoke covering the sun, it seemed to find it's self through the cracks and bake the ground until it was hard and dry. Aelita pushed a mob of her pink hair out of her face and felt her head. It was mushy and covered in sweat.

"Yuck," she said, wiping her hand on her pink tank-top. Along with that, she wore tan shorts and dusty old boots. "Jeremie, are we almost there?"

"Hang on, Aelita," Jeremie said. He turned to her. His glasses were covered in dust. "We're almost to the camp."

Aelita scowled. She hadn't showered in weeks, and her pink hair was greesey with filth and dirt was smeared all over her body. Not to mention some cuts and bruises on her arms and legs. How was she supposed to stay beautiful?

And let's not forget Jeremie. He wasn't being so helpful. He wasn't really ready to walk sixteen miles through the dusty smoke-filled desert, meaning short stops every ten minutes.

Aelita looked out and saw a figure on the horizon. "Jeremie, what's that?"

Jeremie froze.

"Jeremie is it a—"

"Shhh," he hissed.

Aelita scowled and tried to concentrate on the figure. It was getting closer to them by the second. It looked too human to be a XANA creature. Even with the dust, she could make out two legs and a body. She thought she could see a hand, but it was holding something.

"Looks like a human," she whispered.

Jeremie pulled out a pistol from his pocket. He crouched low, like he was hunting a deer. Aelita smiled to herself. He looked really funny.

Then she saw something through the blowing dust. She noticed color…something with color. Everything else was the eerie tan color like the sand, but there was a purple spot sitting right up their in the air. Or was it attached to something? Aelita squinted her eyes. Then she noticed that the figure wasn't a monster—it was a human.

"Jeremie, it's a human," she said.

"On witch side?" Jeremie asked suspiciously.

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Ours, I'm sure."

Jeremie shrugged. "You can never be so sure."

The Aelita saw the purple spot again and a thought occurred to her. "Is that…is that Odd!"

"Odd!" Jeremie asked. "I haven't seen him since summer started."

Aelita stared at the boy. He was in an army uniform with a gun, combat boots, and a helmet in one hand. He didn't look like the scrawny boy she had seen just three months ago. He looked somewhat bigger, and more mature.

"Odd!" Jeremie shouted.

The boy shoved his helmet back on and aimed his gun at Jeremie.

"Odd, it's us!" Aelita said. "It's Aelita and Jeremie!"

The gun lowered.

"Odd!" Aelita hollered and began running towards the young solder.

"Aelita? Is that you?" Odd asked, lowering the gun more.

Aelita barreled towards Odd, knocking him to the ground.

"I thought you were _dead_!" she shouted. She hugged him.

"Slow down, princess," Odd said, smiling. "We're did you come from?"

"Fort Banks, sixteen miles away. And trust me, sixteen miles takes a long time with Jeremie!"

"Jeremie? He's with you?" Odd asked, peering behind her. Jeremie was staggering towards them, out of breath.

"Yeah," Aelita said. "Where's Ulrich and Yumi?"

Odd stood up, brushing some sand off him. He helped Aelita up.

"Ulrich's defending the south side of our camp, and Yumi…"

Tears sprung to Aelita's face. "She's not dead, is she? Oh please, say she isn't."

"To tell you the truth, Aelita, we don't know. She was captured by XANA a few months ago. We have no idea if XANA's kept her alive."

Aelita wiped her eyes. "I hate this," she said. "And it's all my fault."

"Why?"

"If I had put up a fight to that scyphozoa, then they wouldn't have got the keys."

"Don't worry, it's not your fault. We can do it. We can win."

Aelita nodded. "I wanted to stay with you, but Jeremie said we had to go."

"Where?"

"We had to go to be safe. XANA would want us, so we ran. I begged to go back for you guys, but he said we had to save ourselves and that we would get help."

Odd glanced at Jeremie, who was coming closer. "He never really did care, did he?"

Aelita frowned. "Of course he did, Odd."

"Odd," Jeremie said when he was near. "What are you—"

"What do you care," Odd said.

Jeremie blinked. "What? Of course I care!"

"You never know with you."

Jeremie scowled. "We tried to find you, and Yumi. But we lost contact and assumed you were at home or somewhere with Ulrich and—"

"Whatever."

"Is camp near?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah. Come on." Odd said and began walking through some more dust, Aelita and Jeremie fallowing behind them.

"We're almost there, Aelita," Jeremie said. He quietly took her hand.

Aelita didn't want to be seen holding hands with a nerdy boy walking through an army camp full of some hot soldier boys, who were mostly a little older then her. But she couldn't just shrug Jeremie's hand off, because that would be just plain rude. So she just held on weakly.

"Aelita!" someone shouted from behind. Aelita turned to see Ulrich, dressed almost identically like Odd. His brown hair had grown a bit and stuck to his dirt-covered head. He was smiling.

"Ulrich!" Aelita said and threw her arms around him. "I'm so glad you're all ok!"

Ulrich smiled. Then he turned to Jeremie.

"Didn't expect you here," he said coldly.

Jeremie stiffened. "Why are you all so mad?" he demanded.

"We're not," Ulrich said. "We're furious!" leavening it at that, he stalked off.

* * *

A black-headed girl was sprawled on the ground of a moldy smelly dungeon. Her bare feet were shackled in chains. Her ankles were raw from the clamps of the chains rubbing against her. Her skin was covered in so many scratches and marks form being beaten so many times.

A word tore from her dry lips. "Ulrich."

Tears sprung to her eyes and she curled in a tight ball. A dim light form the moon outside cast eerie shadows across the prison floor. Sounds of approaching guard's foot steps echoed through the halls.

The girl, named Yumi, opened her eyes and stared at the guards. They stopped at her cell and fiddled with some keys before sliding the bars open.

"Come on, girl," said one of the guards. Yumi couldn't see his face because it was covered in a deep black hood.

"Please," she begged. "Don't let him kill me."

"He won't, you stupid whore. Now come on."

Yumi wanted to fight them off, but knew more would come. Many more.

The two guards unlocked her chains and dragged her across the prison and up some flights of stares. They were soon in a dark room with pictures of XANA's symbol all over the walls.

"Like it?" a voice asked. A figure was on the far side of the room, looking out a window.

"No," said Yumi.

"Some of my slaves did it this morning. Just before they were executed. I told them if they did, I would let them go. Isn't that funny?"

The figure turned so Yumi could see his face.

There was no face, per say. Instead the face-figure was a dark black hole, pushed into a grimy hood.

"You're horrible," Yumi said.

"I know, I know," XANA replied. "But I must ask you one thing." XANA leaned closer. "Were are they?"

"I don't know!" Yumi said truthfully. "I really don't!"

"She's lying!" the guard said.

"Shut up," XANA hissed. "I'm tired of waiting! It's been three months and my plan hasn't worked. All because this stupid child won't tell me where they are!"

The window XANA had looked out before burst, and the walls shook.

"Take her to be de-humanized," XANA said. "NOW!"

"Wait!" Yumi screamed. "Please, XANA! I don't know where they are! I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE!"

Her screams echoed down the hall as the fought and struggled to get free, but it was no use.

She was helpless.


	3. The Invasion

"He still won't talk to me," Jeremie said, looking over at Ulrich. He was leaning against one of the tables laughing with another solder and drinking from his canteen.

Odd, who was sitting next to him with Aelita, shrugged. He had forgiven Jeremie about Yumi, but Ulrich looked as if he would never speak to Jeremie again.

"I don't know if we could have saved her anyway," Aelita said.

Odd shrugged. "Try convincing him."

"Should I talk to him about it?" Aelita asked hopefully.

"Later," Odd said. "The briefing's about to start."

"Take your seats, gentlemen," said the old general in the front of the tent. Odd stood up and brushed himself off, taking one glace and Aelita and Jeremie before plopping back down on the ground closer to the front.

"As you know, you have been here for about a week. What have you done so far?"

"Nothing," the solders replied.

"So, from today on, you will begin your two-week training period. Get up with the sun, and down with the moon. Get it?"

"Yes sir," the solders said at the same time.

"Alright. Platoon Mad Dog, I have great news for you." The general smiled and Mad Dog division, which had mostly seniors and above in it, looked hopefully at his face.

"Your moving out."

Mad Dog division burst into applause and cheering when they heard that. Odd glanced at Ulrich, who had just sat down beside him.

"They're moving out?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah," Odd said. "I don't know what they're so happy about."

"They get to defend our country," Ulrich said proudly.

"What country? I don't even live here."

Ulrich smiled. "I'm just glad you came, Odd."

Odd smiled, but then it faded. "Where else did I have to go?"

Ulrich nodded and gave him a small smiled. "Come on. Let's skip the rest to eat some breakfast. What are they going to say about us?"

Odd shrugged. "You go ahead. "I'm gunna go lay down for a bit."

Ulrich nodded and walked toward the cafeteria tent.

Odd watched his friend go off before walking slowly back to the Freshman tent. No one was there, and he was glad. It was nice to be all alone.

He quietly laid down on the hard cot. The sea-sick-green ceiling made him dizzy. He closed his eyes and fell into a light sleep.

* * *

_Flash back_

"_Odd, look at the news," said Ms. Della-Robbia. Odd could hear the clicking of the remote even from the kitchen. _

"_What?" he asked, stuffing the rest of his turkey sandwich in his mouth. He wandered back to the fridge, scanning the shelves for more. _

"_Odd, is this you?" his mother called from the other room. _

_Odd walked into the family room and stared at the TV. It was true. There was Odd, with his spiky hair and purple clothes, at Kadic Academy running away from a giant krab. _

"_No," Odd lied. "That's…Jeremie."_

"_Belpois?"_

"_Yeah…"_

"_Goodness, he sure did grow from the last picture you sent me. But I swear that looks like you."_

_Odd gave her a weak smile. "Yeah, he does kind of look like me."_

"_Hmm," she said. _

"_Mom, isn't it time for your hair appointment?" Odd asked. _

"_Thank goodness all of this is in France and not here in California," his mother said, hardly hearing him. She was still focused on the TV. _

"_Mom…"_

"_Oh, yes, my hair appointment," Ms. Della-Robbia said and grabbed her purse from the chair. She walked over to the door and opened it, about to step out. But she paused, and turned around. "Don't forget to leave for your father's party thing if I'm not back." She turned again, but stopped and turned. _

"_I love you, sweetie," she said, and shut the door. _

_Odd stood their, watching her car go from the window. His eyes flitted back to the TV screen in the family room. He watched as the news anchor as she babbled on about France, the krabs, and how to get your house paint to not crack off during the summer. _

"_No matter what's going on, we always try to change the subject," Odd said and flopped down in the chair. He closed his eyes and took a breath, remembering that day at Kadic when XANA's army had begun the raid on France. All of that was weeks ago, and yet…everything had already begun to change so much. France had been invaded._

_He picked up the remote and began flipping through the channels. Then, he heard a strange noise and suddenly heard screaming. _

"_What the hell!" he shouted and grabbed his shoes from by the door. He then darted outside towards the front lawn. _

_Then he realized that France wasn't the only place in trouble. _

* * *

Odd sprung up from his deep sleep, his eyes darting around. All of the other boys in the room were snoring loudly and tossing and turning, creaking the cots.

A feeling of nausea passed over Odd. He quickly darted out of bed and out of the tent, running to the far end of the camp. He leaned against of the American and French flag pole, feeling the cold night wind on his face.

"Odd?" a quiet and kind voice asked from behind. Odd turned to see Aelita, who looked different then she had before. She was scrubbed clean, her hair was combed, and she had on a black shirt that was torn just at her ribs and baggy army pants with brown combat boots. She looked better, and much tougher.

"Aelita, sorry," he said. "Did I wake you up?"

"No, I was just having some trouble sleeping myself. How about you?"

Odd nodded.

"So…how is everything?" Aelita asked. "Army good for you?"

"I have nowhere else to go."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me guess, XANA destroyed your house?"

"More then that."

Aelita nodded, but Odd knew she still didn't understand.

"So…where did Jeremie take you?' Odd asked.

"I really don't know, Odd. Strange places with strange people. The names made my head spin. I went to America with Jeremie, and I tried to contact Yumi. But there wasn't a good signal where she was at. Oh, I and learned some English."

Odd smiled. "So can I talk to you like this?" he asked in English.

Aelita smiled and replied the same language. "Yes you can."

"What about Jeremie?"

"He said it was a waste of time."

"He things everything's a waste of time."

Aelita shrugged.

Odd looked out across the black desert. It seemed to drag on forever, leading to who knows where. Leading to other crumbling cities in other crumbling nations.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Aelita said, gazing at the desert. She took a few steppes away from the camp, and turned back to Odd.

"Come on," she said. She went out even further.

"Aelita, I don't think you should go out that far," Odd said nervously.

Aelita smiled. "I want to look at the stars."

Odd fallowed her, leavening the safe lights of the camp and fading into black darkness. Aelita, who he could hardly sea, laid down on the sand. He did the same.

"Look at those stars, Odd," Aelita said dreamily. "Aren't they beautiful?"

"Yeah," Odd said. "I used to do this all the time when I was a kid. Every night, I would run away and go to this big field and look at the stars. The next morning, my uncle would find me curled up asleep in the field and bring me home."

Aelita laughed. "So you live with your uncle?"

Odd's smiled faded. He couldn't tell her the truth. The truth even he didn't believe, and if he didn't Aelita surely wouldn't.

"No, but he lived with us," Odd said. "Him and my parents are somewhere in New York now."

"I hope they're alright," Aelita said, worried.

"Me too," Odd said, looking back up at the stars. "Me too."

"Aelita?" a voice asked from the darkness. "Aelita, where are you?"

Odd knew it was Jeremie's voice.

"Aelita?" Jeremie asked again, this time shining a flash light on their faces.

"Put that out!" Odd yelled and grabbed the flashlight, throwing it hard on the ground.

"What the hell!" Jeremie shouted angrily. "What are you and Aelita doing here?"

"Looking at stars," Aelita said.

"Well, come on, it's too dark."

Aelita put her head down in defeat. "See you later, Odd.

Jeremie scowled at Odd and lead his girl friend back to camp.

Odd didn't protest. Instead, he laid back down on the ground and studied that stars again. A strange feeling passed over him as he watched Jeremie's shadowy figure lead Aelita back to camp. For the first time, he noticed that Jeremie never really gave Aelita a chance to decide for herself. Did Aelita notice that?

Odd stared at the stars again. Some made shapes, some didn't. Some where big, some were small. They all were so different. Suddenly Odd thought about Aelita and Jeremie. He thought about how they were going out. What did that have in common besides that they are both are smart? They were so…different. Aelita loved to try new things, new ideas, and was very outgoing and adventurous. And she was beautiful. Why was she waiting her time with Jeremie?

_Did I just call Aelita beautiful? _Odd wandered. _Did I mean it?_

Odd closed his eyes. He knew the answer full well.

_Yes. _


	4. Dehumanized

Two men in hooded robes dragged Yumi down a corridor.

"Let go!" she screamed. XANA smiled evilly, glad to see one of his enemies in pain.

"What are you going to do?" Yumi asked franticly.

"De-humanize you, child," XANA hissed back. "Do you no what that means?"

"No," Yumi said.

"I'm going to virtualized you forever, dear. Just as I had been before I broke free. Don't you see? I was once like you, a human. But Franz Hopper virtualized me, and some thing went wrong and I got lost somewhere in the system. But, instead of finding a materialization program, he went on with his work."

Yumi stared at him. "You were a—a human?"

XANA nodded grimly. "But I grew part of the system, of Lyoko. I became a virus that no one could clean and took over the towers, which were my only hope of going back to the real world. And my schemes to take over the world all failed because of five people."

He pointed a bony finger at Yumi. "And one of them is you."

"Please, XANA," Yumi begged. "Please."

"You ruined me. You stopped me. And now, you shall face the same prison I had to for almost twenty years!"

Yumi bit her lip so hard, she tasted blood. There was no getting out of this one.

The guards dragged Yumi to a room she hadn't been since summer started. The scanner room.

Everything looked the same, except the scanners were a bit more dusty then she remembered.

"Is the process ready?" XANA asked one of the guards.

"Yes sir," the guard replied. The two dropped Yumi into the scanner.

"_10 seconds till virtualization,"_ a voice said from the intercom.

"Ready Yumi?" XANA asked.

"_Nine." _

"Bite me," Yumi said.

"_Eight." _

"Aren't you scared?

"_Seven."_

"Not one bit, asshole!"

"_Six."_

"The you'll enjoy Lyoko."

"_Five."_

"You'll be all alone," XANA continued.

"_Four."_

"Shut up," Yumi said, tears coming out of her eyes.

"_Three."_

"Bye bye, sweet heart."

"_Two,"_

"F OFF!"

"_One."_

The scanner door closed, trapping Yumi inside. Tears poured down her face. "XANA! Let me out!"

It was useless.

"Scanner, Yumi," said the voice.

"NO!"

"Virtualization," the voice said, and a bright light with a burst of air slammed Yumi in the face.

* * *

"Did I say stop?" Officer Mark said.

"No, sir," Odd said, taking another long sip of water. It was all the platoon had been doing since afternoon. Word was, dehydration was a huge thing in the desert. _Wow, I'm shocked, _Odd thought as he sipped the last of his water. He felt like he was going to throw up.

Every day the platoon would drink about seven bottles of water toetal. It was either to pass time or for hydration, but Odd wasn't sure which one.

"If any of you vomit, your out of my platoon," Officer said. "You hear."

"Sir yes sir," the boys said through gulps.

"Good, I'm glad. If you want, you can walk out right now." The Officer moved down the rows of boys, scanning each one drink their water with an occational curse.

"Della-Robbia," he said at last. "Where are you from?"

Odd swallowed. "America, sir."

"Good. So am I. Where did you live?"

"California, sir."

"Did you have a house?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you have parents?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do they love you?"

"I sure as hell hope so, sir."

"THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU JOIN THE ARMY!" the Officer screamed, making everyone jump. "YOU HAD IT ALL, BOY!"

"I had no where e-else to g-go, sir," Odd said, trembling from the man's sudden out burst.

"Why is that, Della-Robbia."

"Because…" Odd said, his voice shaking.

"Because why?"

"Um…"

"Spit it out, Della-Robbia!"

"I can't, sir," Odd said. He looked at the ground.

"And why is that?"

Odd didn't answer at first. Then, he got an interesting idea.

"Because," he said slowly. "That's just the way it is."

Officer Marl wasn't pleased, but couldn't say anything. Instead, he gave everyone a wicked grin.

"Twenty laps around camp, boys."

* * *

_Where am I? _Yumi wandered as she sat up. She sat on the first platform of a tower. She was vurtualized in Lyoko once more.

"No," she said. She stood up and looked around. "No. This can't be."

The tower looked the same as it had before XANA was gone. Files were surrounding the walls along with an occasional number here and there. The second platform of the tower was still pretty high. But something was different. Something was missing. But what?

Still a bit dizzy, she made her way out of the tower and into Lyoko. No monsters greeted her, no life at all.

No one.

She was alone.

_Alone. _

Just thinking that, Yumi began to panic.

"Anyone there?" she called. For the first time, she looked down at herself. She even looked different. Her fans were gone, along with her bag that used to hold them. She was wearing black boots with red straps wrapped around them, and she had red stockings on. Her skirt was black, and a red shirt with a black vest that ended just before her navel. Under that was a short white shirt.

"XANA!" she called. She was praying a monster would come at any second, just to make her realize that she wasn't alone.

But she was.

Yumi walked slowly and leaned up against one of the trees. She knew she wasn't human anymore. She could feel it. She was now a program.

"XANA!" Yumi cried. "Are you even there?"

No answer.

Yumi had a feeling no one would answer in a long time.

* * *

Okay this chapter was kind of like a filler, but it does have more about Yumi in it :)

Things you should ponder:

what will happen to Yumi?

Why is Odd so upsete about everything?

Can you feel the Odd & Aelita love? ;)

So if you want to see what happens, READ&REVIEW


	5. Emotions like love

"Three letter word for dirt," Aelita said, tapping the eraser of her pencil on her book.

"Mud," Odd said.

Aelita scribbled the word in the boxes. "A five letter word for globe."

"World."

Aelita smiled and wrote that down. "Your good at this, Odd."

"The book is for ages five and up, Aelita," Odd said, leaning his head back on top of once of the boxes he was leaning on.

"It's for ages ten and up," Aelita corrected. In one of the supply rooms, she had found a crossword puzzle book for kids. Since there was nothing else to do at the base wile Odd and Ulrich were training and Jeremie was working on the computer, it kept her occupied through most of the day.

"Have you seen Jeremie anywhere?" Aelita asked.

"He's helping out the technical dudes in that tent over there. He knows more about computers then them."

Ulrich, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, laughed. "He had nothing better to do."

Aelita sketched a heart, pretending to listen.

"How long have we been here, Ulrich?"

"I don't know. About two weeks, I guess," Ulrich replied.

"Did you know that Eagle platoon got to go out after only a month of training?" Odd asked, taking a small sip of his water.

"Yeah, and they're probably all dead."

"That's the spirit, Ulrich," Odd said, laughing.

Ulrich gave him a small smiled and leaned back.

"We better go, bud," Odd said. "Don't want to miss dinner."

"Yum."

"Four letter word for 'unpleasantness'?" Aelita asked, still focusing on her crossword puzzle book.

"Pain," Odd said quietly before walked off.

* * *

Aelita stared at Odd as he walked away. _What's with him_? She wondered. She tapped her pencil on the end of her book again, looking out across the desert. It was mid afternoon and the sun was slowly lowering itself, beaming down across the sadly wasteland.

Yuck.

"Aelita," Jeremie said from behind. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

Aelita turned and smiled. "Of course!" She bounced up and fallowed Jeremie through the camp.

"Let's walk around a few times, just to stretch our legs," Jeremie said smiled. He took her hand and the two began walking.

Aelita could feel her hand get sweaty when she took Jeremie's hand. Something didn't feel right.

"Aelita, I want to talk to you," Jeremie said he let go of her hand and stuffed it in his pocket. They were farther away from camp now, so know one could hear them talking.

"Yes?" Aelita asked.

"Um…this sounds dumb, but…" Jeremie sighed. "Remember when you came into this world? You kissed me on the cheek."

Aelita nodded. "Yes."

"And once on the lips, too," Jeremie added.

Aelita blushed. "Yes."

"Well, I just feel like…like our relationship hasn't moved anywhere since then."

"Where would it have moved?" Aelita asked, uncertain what he meant.

"I mean…it's as if it's lost it's touch."

"I like you, Jeremie," Aelita said. "What else is there to know?"

"You like me," Jeremie said quietly. "But do you love me?"

This question caught Aelita by surprise. "Of course," she would have said, but she wasn't so sure if she meant it or not. Huh?

"Do you love me?" she asked.

Jeremie looked into her eyes. "Yes…" he said and leaned over and kissed her.

Before she could protest, he was kissing her hard. She tried to wriggle away, but felt it would be rude. She glanced over to see who, but Odd, standing there watching.

He didn't have an expression at all on his face. He stood there and stared at the two kissing. Aelita wanted to break away from Jeremie and shout "Odd!" but it was no use.

Odd walked off, apparently traumatized.

"Jer—me—"

Jeremie pulled away.

"I thought you loved me," he said, surprised. "I thought this is what you wanted."

"I—"

"You don't love me, do you," Jeremie said angrily.

"I—I do, but—"

Jeremie scowled and walked back into camp. Normally, Aelita would have ran after him. But she held back this time, staring at the blond boy as he stalked back into the camp. She walked back, noticing the sun was starting to set. She plopped down on some green bags and began to watch it.

"Hey princess," someone said, dropping down next to her.

Aelita turned to see Odd.

"What are you doing here all alone?" Odd asked.

"Nothing," Aelita said. "I just want to get away from all the excitement."

Odd nodded. "Me too. So are you and Jeremie having a little spat?"

Aelita nodded. "I don't know if I…oh, never mind."

"Come on, princess." Odd smiled. "You can tell me."

Aelita shrugged. "I just don't know if I love Jeremie anymore. I mean I do, but not as much as I used to."

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"He seems so…controlling. You know, like I have to do this and have to do that."

"But you're the one who listens to him."

Aelita looked surprised. "I never thought about that."

For moment the two were quiet, watching the sun set across the desert. Pink lines striped the sky and the scene was beautiful.

"You know, I never saw such beauty," Aelita said in aw. "I mean, for the year I've been here I haven't scene anything but Kadic Academy and the Factory. Yeah, and some of the town. But never anything like this. Jeremie said there were beautiful things in the world, but never showed me anything."

Odd nodded. "There isn't this kind of beauty everywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"Our world can be beautiful, but only the natural things are. Nothing we humans ever make."

"What about what they have?" Aelita asked. She looked into Odd's crystal blue eyes. "Like emotions."

"Like what? All they do is tear you apart."

"Like love."

Odd looked at the ground, feeling his cheeks warm. "Like you and Jeremie?"

"Yeah," Aelita said. "Like me and Jeremie. I think it's a beautiful thing, this love emotion."

"Emotions suck," Odd said angrily. "Like I said before, they tear you apart. They don't even have a point. Like sad. It makes you depressed, and hate everything."

"Why are you so sad?"

"Because…" Odd's voice drifted off. "Because I lost more from the war then I could manage."

"Tell me," Aelita said. "Get it out. It always feels better to talk about it."

Odd stood up. "Never mind," he said and stalked back into camp.


	6. Off to War

Very dissapointed...no one reviewed my last chapter! i'm not updateing until i get three reviews, at least. so if you read, REVIEW!

NOTE: Yeah uh, Odd's parents were divorced. Just letting everyone know :D I envisioned him on having split parents, Don't know why, but there's an OC in here, his Dad's girlfriend.

* * *

_Flash back_

"_Dad?" Odd called through the dust and screams. He zipped around the house, calling his father's name. _

"_Odd?" someone asked. He noticed Shannon, his fathers girlfriend, standing on one of the piles of rubble. Her pale blond hair that had been dyed many times before was mangled and her too-tanned face was blotched with soot and dirt. _

_"Odd!" she shrieked, "Odd, somethings--"_

_"Where is my father?" he demanded, "Do you know where he is?"_

"_No, but those creatures took him. I don't know where, but they took him. Odd, I tried to get him back—"_

_"Shit," Odd cursed. "Shit, shit, SHIT!" He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to take a deep breath through the smokey air, but all he could muster was a short pant of air. "Do you know what they looked like?"_

_"They were monsters!" Shannon balled, tears falling from her eyes. "They were hideos, metal death traps, and they took him—"_

_Odd ignored her and took off without saying goodbye, dodging screaming people and climing over piles of rubble. He searched every face and every person for his father, but he found none. _

End flashback.

* * *

Odd stared at the ceiling of the tent, listening to the other boys snore. He thought about that day, the day he lost everything except himself.

And he tried to forget.

"Calm down, Odd," he said. He sat up and buried his face in his hands.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" a voice asked. Odd could tell it was one of the older boys because his voice was deeper. Slowly, Odd nodded.

"I just need to walk around, OK?" he said and stood up. He went out of the tent and looked up, but he saw no stars. Nor did he see an Aelita to watch them with him.

He felt that things were easier to tell to Aelita then anyone else in trh group, or anywhere. Things seemed different now, and so did Aelita. She seemed more concerned of everyone else then Jeremie, like she had used to be.

Odd sat down on some boxes and took in a breath of sharp air.

**_I take in the sharp air and let it go through me. The air fills my lungs and begins to ach, like pain. The air freezes my blood and my body is frozen. _**

**_It won't allow me to move on unless I let it out._**

**_I exhale the pain slowly, letting all of it out through my mouth. My lungs stop aching and my blood is allowed to run freely through my veins. _**

**_And yet I must take another breath, a breath full of pain. I must inhale the air and let it seep through my body, and I can't do anything to stop it. So I must let it out, and allow myself to move on._**

Aelita stared at the words on the paper, examining every curve of the letters to every dot that ended the sentence. Where did this come from? All of the sudden the words pourd out from her mind to her pen.

She was at the entrance of the tent, looking outside. It was a starless night, and it was bitterly cold. In her lap was a note pad and a pencil. She had been sketching for the last hour, strange shaped that seemed to contain a figure. Of what though? The lines seemed to connect in a way, but Aelita couldn't put her finger on what.

It was once again another sleepless night. Aelita couldn't think of anything else she wanted to do, so she wrote an entry as if it was a diary entry.

**_Why did I write the words I had before? I don't feel as if I'm in pain, but as if the pain is going on around me. I cant tell, because I really don't know how I feel about anything. _**

**_Like love. _**

**_What is it? It's not as clear as any other emotion; it's so vague, I can't be sure what it truely is. I suppose no one can. Is it what they show on telivision; passionate sex, long drawn-out kisses, candy and roses? Or is it something more complex, like an unsolved math problem, where it is only you who can figure out the answer._**

**_Lately, I've been feeling something towards Odd, stronger then ever before. It feels as if a spark between us had just finally been ignighted; an emotion that was always there, but was just being discovered. _**

**_These things are kind of stupid, but I still can't choose. It makes me so frustrated I want to scream! I love both of them, I think. But I still love Jeremie more…I think. That's the problem with this world! They think too much, and they never know._**

* * *

Yumi sat cross legged in the tower, meditating. She could see earth, and everything that happened before she was virtualized. But for some reason, some of her memories felt kind of blurry. She felt like she could remember so much more on earth.

How long had it been since she had smelled anything? Or tasted anything? Or even felt anything?

It had only been two weeks, but it seemed like it had been an eternity. Time did not matter in Lyoko, because no sun would come up and no moon would go down. There was nothing.

It wasn't like time would be any good for Yumi anyway. What would she had done with it anyway? Lyoko was isolated from everything.

"Contact," she said to herself. "I need to contact Jeremie." She would have gladly contacted Ulrich, but she knew he didn't have his computer with him 24/7. she wasn't even sure where he was.

Yumi sighed. She knew, even if she wasn't human anymore, that she would go insane from being alone all the time.

"There has got to be someone," she said. She stood up and stood at the edge of the platform.

Yumi may have been in the super computer for two weeks, but still didn't explore the other sectors like she intended on. She felt if she explored more, she would learn more, and maybe even forget about her life on earth. Her memories became less and less as the days grew on.

* * *

"We're going," Jeremie said. "Aelita, I got it!"

"Going where?" Aelita asked. She was in the computer tent, which was where Jeremie spent most of his days.

"To Camp Forterdale," Jeremie said proudly.

"Forterdale?" Aelita asked. "Where the hell is that?"

"Twenty miles away, Aelita."

Aelita smacked her hand on her head. "Jeremie! It took us three days to march sixteen miles! You don't make long distances easy!"

"Relax," Jeremie said, slightly annoyed. "One of the jeeps will give us a ride."

Aelita glanced over where some of the solders were playing cards.

"What about Odd and Ulrich?" she asked quietly.

"They have a job to do. They have to stay here."

"But we can't just leave them. Not again."

"They joined the _army_, Aelita. They have to stick to there word."

Aelita shrugged and looked at the ground.

Some men, who were in one of the tents, shouted in joy.

Aelita looked up. "That must mean something good," she told Jeremie.

"In the shape that we're in, we could use anything now," Jeremie replied.

Aelita spotted Odd running towards them.

"Odd, what's going on?" she asked, running over to him.

"We're going to war, Aelita!" Odd said, hurrying her. "WAHOO!"

"What?" Aelita asked, astonished.

"Me and Ulrich are going to battle! How awesome is that?"

Aelita forced a smile. "But you've only been training for what…two months?"

"We're ready, apparently. So, I heard you and Einstein are heading out. That true?"

Aelita nodded. "Tomorrow."

"The day before I am, princess," Odd said.

Aelita smiled, but had a deep concern for her friend.

* * *

The next day……

"Hey, Aelita, what's this?" Jeremie asked, holding a notebook in his hands. He began to open it.

"Jeremie! Stop!" Aelita said, rushing to him. She grabbed the book from his hands and waved her finger. "Never touch that again, Jeremie. That's my diary."

Jeremie shrugged and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "You ready?"

Aelita nodded, stuffing the diary in her bag. "I should say good bye to Odd and Ulrich. I need to wish them luck before their big day."

Jeremie nodded and went on his way to the jeep.

Aelita watched him walk off and them made her way to Odd's tent. He was just coming out with Ulrich.

"Hey, princess," Ulrich said. "You leavening?"

Aelita nodded. She felt a tear come to her eye. She hugged Ulrich hard.

"Promise you'll write, ok?"

Ulrich nodded.

"Hey, Ulrich!" someone shouted. Ulrich smiled at Aelita. "Good luck, princess."

"Same to you."

He darted over to the tent where the general was meeting everyone.

Aelita hugged Odd next.

"You'll write too, I hope," she said.

"If I remember," Odd said. She knew he was grinning, even if she couldn't see his face.

She slowly pulled away from him.

"This has been such crazy tmonths for us, hasn't it?" she asked.

Odd nodded. "Yeah."

Aelita brought her fingers up through his hair, smiling at him. "I hope we see eachother again, don't you?"

"We will," Odd said, grinning back at her. "We will, I'll make sure of it."

Aelita suddenly leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for being my friend, Odd," she said, smiling. "I hope when we meet again, I will have saved the world, just like you always had."

But before Odd could even breath one word, someone shouted, "Aelita!" Aelita gave him nothing but one last smile before she turned and ran towards the green army jeep, running and waiting to take her away from him.

Odd then touched his cheek where Aelita had kissed. Had that just happened, or was he simply dreaming of it? He brushed his fingers over the spot where her lips had met his flesh. It was real. It had happened.

"Odd!" Ulrich shouted from inside the tent. "Let's _go_!"

Odd broke from his stunned state and made his way slowly over to the tent.

"Who was that, Odd?" a boy asked, grinning.

"She was hot. Is that your girl friend!" another said.

"Wasn't that blond nerd making out with her the other day? I saw that!"

"Who was that, Odd?"

"Who was that?"

Questions buzzed around Odd like angry bees. He brushed them all off and settled in his place beside Ulrich, focusing on the General's words.

"Who was that, Odd?" mocked the general, laughing. Ever since Odd had arrived, he'd been picking on him more and more every day, hating him for some strange reason. And quite frankley, Odd was begining to get fed up with is constant insults.

"Was that your little girl friend?" the General said. "Was it?"

Odd looked at the ground. "Why do you want to know?" he asked then, looking up at The General, grinning. "Afraid that it's your daughter?"

The generals face turned red as the entire tent filled with laughter and he slammed his fist in Odd's face.

* * *

"Earth," Yumi said. "What is Earth?" she was laying on the first platform of a tower. She was staring blankly at the files, trying to remember something. Anything.

Earth? What was the strange thing? She closed her eyes and scanned her memory. She couldn't remember anything about this strange word, yet it seemed familiar.

"The more you learn, you forget," she said, her eyes still closed.

"Ulrich," she said in a small voice. "What is an Ulrich?"


	7. Not Human

In one of the many towers in Lyoko, Yumi sat on the second platform with a screen in front of her. She watched as the numbers and words moved on. She was learning about a strange world called "Earth."

Yumi's knowledge of the real world had faded, just as Aelita's did when she entered Lyoko. She didn't know anything about Earth, or humans. She had forgotten.

---------------------------------------------------- br

Odd's heart was beating fast as he stuffed some old socks into his bag. He glanced up at Ulrich, who's brown eyes were staring back into his.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready," Odd replied, his voice slightly shaking.

Outside, it was 3:30 and dark. Cold sharp wind bit through Odd's light jacket and he shivered, feeling slight pain in his legs. They felt like they were glued to the ground, and every step was dragging him down.

Boys and some Men were hulling things in jeeps. Odd could see outside there were some tanks getting filled with fuel.

"Ready boys?" The general asked.

"Hardly," Odd said under his breath.

The boys got in formation, oldest in the front and youngest in the back.

"Ready for war, Odd?" Ulrich asked in a small voice beside Odd.

"Ready," Odd said. Though he didn't sound it at all.

"This is it," Ulrich said. "We are officially in the army after a month of training."

"Do you really think that's enough?"

Ulrich shook his head. "But it sure is all we're going to get, isn't it?"

The group began to march into the black, vast desert.

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_Aelita's diary :_

**When I kissed Odd on the cheek, I don't know what I felt. I must have been drawn to do it, but I don't know why. Maybe because he's such a good friend. Jeremie is my friend too, but he doesn't listen as well as Odd. Odd has his own opinions, but doesn't argue with mine like Jeremie does. Jeremie is too stubborn. **

**I researched what a relationship was last night on Jeremie's old laptop. Even if I've been on earth for a wile, I've never really understood what it was. Love? Or something less. **

**Turns out that it is love, but not serious love. It can be, like marriage, but in order for it to get that far it has to move. And Jeremie and my relationship hasn't moved in like forever. Sure he kissed me at the camp a few days ago, and he still hasn't fully talked to me since then because I pulled away. Like I said, he's being stubborn. But anyway, we've held hands and kissed before, so where else is there to go? Scratch that, I don't want to know. **

------------------------------------------------------ br

At the bottom of one of the towers Yumi was standing in the center. She was about to go to the second platform. As she raised up, she opened her eyes to see the files move quickly around her.

Yumi had never scene this before. The files had never moved.

"Code: Earth," a strange voice said. The files moved faster and faster, and Yumi felt herself disappearing. She let out a small whimper before she was fully disappeared.

When she opened her eyes, she was on the floor of a scanner. She pulled her head up and looked around. A dark-hooded figure sat before her.

"Welcome, servant," the figure said. "I am your master, XANA."

"Master?" Yumi asked.

"Do you know where you are?"

"No."

"Who you are?"

"No."

"You are Yumi, and you shall be the leader of my army."

Yumi's eyes widened. "Lead an army? But I can not fight."

"You will learn, my dear," XANA said. "You will learn to be the best fighter in my army." He outstretched his bony fingers.

Yumi took them and stood up. She felt wobbly, and leaned back against the scanner. Her body began to shake and an unpleasant feeling passed her.

"What's happening?" she asked, her teeth chattering.

"You're cold."

"Huh?"

"You will learn about Earth. But for now, do you know what Aelita is?"

"Is it a number?" Yumi asked.

"No. How about Ulrich?"

"A color?"

"Nope. This is good."

"Why?"

XANA didn't answer. He began walking towards the door. Yumi fallowed.

"The word Ulrich seemed so familiar, but I don't remember ever hearing it before. My memory is very short."

"I know," XANA said.

"So…what is an Ulrich?" Yumi asked. XANA opened the door to an elevator. Once Yumi was in, he pressed up.

"A person, like you," XANA replied, not even glancing at her. The elevator screeched upward.

"I am a person?" Yumi asked.

XANA looked down on her and smiled. "You are more of a figure, dear. Not necessarily a 'human' as we call it."

"Are you a human?"

"I was a human, but I became something like you. Virtual."

"Is that possible?"

"Yes, dear child, yes it is. Now shut you mouth. You have work to do."

------------------------------------------------------------------- br>

I know! this chapter was really short! but pleez review anyway :) if i don't get five more reviews, im not updateing >:( lol pleez review...oh and i forgot to mention this is a Yumi and Ulrich fic to... but mainly odd and aelita. So Yumi and Ulrich fans, have no fear, because this has more then one couple in it! lol so REVIEW


	8. Do you love her

For some strange reason, there was no sun for three days. Odd and his company marched out through the desert, glancing up and at sky every now and then. It looked as still and silent as the vast desert. The sky seemed as if it was waiting.

A week after they had left the camp, they finally reached Camp Soot. It was bigger then the one Odd had seen before, but the people seamed mean and cold. They weren't very social.

But What brightened Odd's mood was a letter from someone important.

**Dear Odd,**

**I miss you so much! Things here at Camp Forterdale are boring, as usual. It's more of a technical camp then a normal camp. No cute soldier guys to look at to pass time ;). Ha ha just kidding. So have you heard anything from Yumi? I tried tracing her cell phone the other day on an old lap top that I had found, but then I decided against it because she's been gone for three months and is sure not to have her cell phone charged. I miss her a lot. How is Ulrich taking this? Anyway, write back when you get this, I miss you. **

**Love, **

**Aelita**

Odd smiled at the letter and tucked it into one of his bags. Ulrich, who had been watching him, grunted.

"A letter from Aelita, I suppose?" he asked.

"Yeah," Odd said. He took a sip of water.

Ulrich was still watching him.

"What?" Odd asked.

"Nothing," Ulrich said. "I just want to figure you out."

"Why?"

"You've been like, flirting with Aelita ever since Jeremie and her had that little spat."

"Huh?"

Ulrich grinned. "Do you like her?"

"Huh? She's Jeremie's girlfriend."

Ulrich leaned back. "But you didn't say you don't love her."

Odd smiled at his friend. "I don't love her."

Ulrich chuckled and fiddle with the cap of his canteen. "So, how long are we camping here?"

"I don't know. Probably just for the night. I heard a sand storm was coming, so we better watch out."

Ulrich nodded and looked up at the sky.

Odd fallowed his gaze to the sky, too. It was gray, but the clouds smoothed out into one giant gray bowl. Odd noticed a small white spot. Then he noticed something moving behind it.

"Just another cloud, I'm sure," he said. But his eyes stayed fixed on the spot. Something was behind it, and moving. Fast.

Odd could here a slight humming sound. It sounded so familiar, as if he has heard it before. Had he?

"TJ, you here that?" he asked a boy by him. TJ squinted up in the sky.

"Nope," he said. "Why?"

Odd shrugged. "Never mind." He took another sip of his canteen.

Then he saw it.

"Ulrich!" he shouted. "Look!"

Ulrich turned to see a hornet.

One hornet came out of the opening of the sky.

"Oh. My. God."

"We're under attack!" TJ shouted and began firing like crazy. Odd grabbed his gun and switched the safety on automatically.

"Your going to kill someone," he said. "The best thing to do is make them shoot each other. They're really stupid, so they would."

"And you would know!" TJ shouted.

"I would," Odd said. "I've done this before."

-------------------------------------------------------- br 

A dark hooded figure held a knife high above a young girls head. Her brown eyes moved around fiercely under her dark black hair. The sword was raised.

But before it was brought down, the girl twisted away and jammed her hidden sword through the dark figure's stomach.

Applause rose from the small crowed that was watching, and Yumi wanted to bow. But she knew better.

"This, Gentlemen," XANA said, smiling and standing up form one of his thrones. "This is my bravest warrior."

Yumi bowed to the group of Gentlemen.

"And she," XANA continued. "Shall lead my giant army in the last attempt to take over the world."

There was more applause.


	9. What makes us

Idk, it's short. But I wanted to do something.

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"Odd!" Aelita shouted. She sprung up, grabbing the object under her pillow and glanced around. She sighed in relief.

She set the knife back under the pillow.

Jeremie, who was sleeping beside her, sat up.

"Aelita?" he asked. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Aelita said, rubbing her head.

"Another one, huh?" Jeremie said soothingly, putting his arm around her. Aelita nodded.

"What did you shout?" Jeremie asked. "I thought you said 'pod'."

"No, I didn't shout anything," Aelita lied. "I just sprung up."

"Still keeping the knife under your pillow?"

Aelita nodded. "Not because of the nightmares, but because of—"

"I know."

Aelita looked at her green sleeping bag. She didn't tell Jeremie the truth why she had the knife under the pillow.

Jeremie removed his arm from around her and smiled. "Don't think about it. I'm here, OK?"

That wasn't so convincing, but Aelita smiled anyway. Jeremie was her best friend, even if she felt something for Odd. They were both her best friends.

Did I just say I had something for Odd! Aelita wandered. Did she? She slipped the knife under her pillow and stood up. She made her way out of the tent and looked out at the distance. There were no stars.

Aelita couldn't remember when there hadn't been stars. Even before XANA escaped they had always been there, lighting the sky. Some days they were hard to see, or it was cloudy. But tonight, there were no stars lighting the sky at all.

The sky felt almost as dark as Aelita's heart. Saddened by this thought, Aelita grabbed her journal.

_I can't help feeling that this entire war is all my fault. I know it is, because I didn't even try to stop XANA from taking my memory. I had people save me all the time, never doing anything myself. _

_Now that I think about it, I never really did anything by myself. There was always someone there, like Odd Yumi or Ulrich. And even when I was alone in Lyoko, I always had Jeremie._

_I feel like I've had too many people helping me along with life, and not even letting me live it on my own. And that's what makes us all human, really. Having independence and fending for yourself. But I can't do that with Jeremie here, because I don't think he'll ever let me go. Even if he didn't love me, which I know he does. _

_Maybe it's time to start living my own life. _

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Odd dropped his gun on the floor and collapsed on the cold, hard desert floor. He got some sand in his mouth, but he didn't care. He closed his eyes.

Every last hornet had been sliced open and killed. Some where sent to some science lab, to be investigated and tested on. Others were used as target practice.

Some where stomped on and used as a foot ball.

Despite the fun of playing football with half a robot, Odd's heart felt heavy. TJ, a friend of his, was gone. Ulrich and him and made it out alright, for they had fought these things before. But TJ hadn't. But the best part was that he had put up a good fight, and would have made it if he would have held them a little longer.

"Odd? I'm tiered," Ulrich said.

"No shit, dumb ass," Odd said. He didn't open his eyes.

"How long will we have to fight?"

"However long they tell us too."

Ulrich sighed. "Why can't we just stop and leave? I hate it. We lost some of our friends."

Odd was annoyed. "Don't you see? We're just as worthless as XANA's monsters. We can't eat, sleep, think, or talk anything we want to. They control us. We are nobody."

Odd's annoyance faded. "But we are damn good fighting nobodies."

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Aelita stuffed her diary in her bag and glanced around the tent. Besides for all of Jeremie's few things and the sleeping Jeremie, it was empty. She zipped her bag and stood up. She brushed off her black tank top and made sure her boots made no sound as she tip-toes out of the tent.

But then she stopped and turned, looking at Jeremie.

"Almost forgot," she said under her breath and pulled out a letter from her pocket. She tucked it into Jeremie's glasses which rested next to him.

_Dear Jeremie,_

_By the time you read this, I will be gone. I'm sorry, Jeremie. I really am. I'm not leavening because of you, but because of myself. _

_Over the past year I have lived here, you have been my guide through Earth. You told me all about feelings, senses, and the good things on earth. You would stay up all night telling be about tropical places like the islands and wonderful things like animals and everything._

_But you didn't mention the bad things. You never told me about pain, war, and tears. Sadness, depression, loneliness. Regret, guilt, or anger. You never told me the truth. _

_And when I came to earth, you tried to protect me from it. You tried to hide the truth, and cover up human's mistakes. But it could never be covered up, Jeremie. _

_So you began to take control, and I let you. I didn't wand to face these things alone, with no one. I wanted you to help me, and save me. _

_But what makes you human is what makes you stronger. Facing anger, pain, regret, jealousy, sadness, and all of these things are what make you who you are. And now, I am going to face all of these things alone. Because I want to be human, and I want to be a part of this world. _

_Love,_

_Aelita _

Aelita left the camp and began to run. She ran across the ice cold desert, until she reached a small oasis.

She pulled out a pocket knife and studied her reflection in the water. Then she took the knife and sliced it through her gorges pink hair, which reached her shoulders.

As she watched it float slowly through the small pond, she felt a tear slide down her face.

She glanced in the water and saw herself for who she really was: Aelita Hopper.

Her black tank top, Camo shorts, and big black boots where nothing that Aelita stones. Her pink hair that now reached in the middle of her ears fell into her face freely. Her eyes did not sparkle of happiness, but anger. Her face did not look naive. It now looked knowing, and as if she had seen more then she had too.

Aelita Stones was dead.

Aelita Hopper had been reborn.

Aelita picked up her back and stung it over her shoulder. Then she began to run. She ran and ran until she reached her destination: Camp Training.


	10. Changes

SUMMARY: In this magical chapter of XANA's war, strange things begin to happen. Aelita dyes her hair scarlet, Odd get's a new look out on life, and you see why he's having so many flash backs, and you get to see what Yumi's up too. Enjoy! (and review!)

----------------------------------------------- br 

Aelita licked her dry lips and swallowed hard. General Em, as she called herself, was walking around the long line of girls eyeing everyone of them and makeing rude remarks. As far as Aelita could tell, Em wasn't a good person to hand around with. She was big, had a tattoo on her arm, and was screaming insults in everyone's face. Aelita dreaded hers.

"What's your name, girl?" she asked, scowling at Aelita.

"Aelita Stones Hopper," Aelita replied.

"I didn't ask for you full name, you twit. I asked for your name," Em replied harshly.

"Aelita," Aelita replied coolly.

"You have some spirit," Em said. "And some balls."

The girl raised her eye brows.

"You," Em said. "Aelita Hopper Jones or whatever walk into this war that could wipe out the human race with fierce green eyes and pink hair." The woman laughed. "_Pink _hair."

"It's natural."

"Natural my ass. It won't scare away your enemies at all."

Aelita narrowed her eyes. "What do you think I should do, ma'am."

Em shrugged. "Dye it a different color, I suppose. Anyone have hair dye?"

It took the small group of girls a few minutes to respond. A girl with red hair raised her hand.

"I do, ma'am," she said.

"You brought hair dye to war? What a bunch of sissies."

The girl looked at the ground.

"Give it here, girl," Em said. The girl walked over to her bag of things and rummaged through, desperately searching. She finally pulled out a box of brown hair dye.

"Use this," Em said, tossing the box to Aelita.

"Where?" she asked.

"Anywhere. Just get out of my site."

An hour later, Aelita was finished drying her hair and studied her new look. As a result of the light brown hair dye, he hair was now scarlet.

When Aelita showed back up at dinner, Em scowled. "A micro centimeter better, Stones," she said.

"It's Hopper," Aelita corrected. "Aelita Stones Hopper."

"I can call you whatever I want, Stones," Em hissed.

Aelita looked at the ground. The old Aelita Stones was 100 gone. Long live Aelita Hopper.

------------------------------------------------------------ br 

"XANA, what training do you want me to do today?" Yumi asked. She was kneeling in front of her master, almost bouncing from the exited ness she held. XANA's black eyes flickered on her, and his face softened from the hard mood before. Not that Yumi could see, for XANA's face was covered in his deep black hood. But even she could sense his calmness.

"Why don't you run along?" XANA said. "You've been practicing a lot lately. You need some rest."

"But what else can I do?"

_She hasn't realized that there is more to life then war, _XANA thought. He studied the girl. "I think I have a new mission for you, child. But you will not start it until I tell you too."

"But master!" Yumi protested. "I want to start it now."

"No."

"Can I at least know what it is?"

XANA sighed. Why would it matter if Yumi knew, anyway? "I want Aelita to come back," he said.

"Why?" Yumi asked.

XANA looked up. Yumi didn't know, she didn't remember.

"Because," XANA replied. "She is my daughter."

------------------------------------------------------------------------ br 

Odd was breathing hard. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and his throat was parched. He swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Odd," a voice said from beside him. "Odd!"

Odd opened his eyes. Ulrich was shaking him.

"Odd, pull yourself together," Ulrich said. "We need you."

Guns, explosions, and screams hissed through the dust of the desert. Lasers where fired everywhere, slicing through the camp tents and even people. Tanks were useless. Guns were like toys. The men in general were pointless.

There was no hope.

"If we lose this battle, we would probably die," Ulrich said. "Because if they destroyed camp, we would be thrown into the desert if we lived. Or else we would die from the monsters."

"Thanks, Ulrich, you're really helping."

"I know."

The two looked at each other and Odd felt himself smile. He didn't know why, but what Ulrich said seemed funny now.

As of this moment, there was no point in living in Odd's view. His family was gone, Yumi probably dead, Aelita and Jeremie scattered, and the world left in ruins. There was nothing in this place that could give off light and make the darkness go away. As of now, it would be covering the world forever.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- br 

Yumi shrugged off the feeling building up in her heart. She kicked the ground with her black boot, staring off into nowhere.

Was Aelita really XANA's daughter?

Yumi couldn't help but feel as if she would be neglected if XANA ever found Aelita. She sometimes heard him drone on about a sector that was neither virtual or reality, but both. A place between the two, an island. He said that one day, him and Aelita would go there and be together. Forever.

When Yumi had asked where she would go during this, XANA had replied by frowning.

"Perhaps you could come," he had said.

But Yumi felt as if she deserved to be XANA's child. She was his servant, after all. His number one body guard. And he had materialized her and brought her into this world called 'Earth'. He had showed her the way. She had stood by him.

And Aelita was running away from him, hiding. She was not worthy to be his daughter.

The factory, as it had once been, was now turned into a dark large castle. XANA had called it Castle of Darkness. At the stone gates, the word "Virtual Darkness" was scribbled and carved into a piece of stone marble. Yumi had often wanted to climb the gates and run her fingers overt he letters. She would let her mind wander off, trying to know what these words meant.

Today, she stood inside of the black gates. She gazed upon the sign. She had never been outside of these gates. They caged her in, keeping her from knowing.

But for some reason, Yumi felt like she had been in this place before.

-------------------------------------------------- br 

_Smoke clouded the streets. Odd made his way through the screaming people and debrea that covered the road, searching for his father. _

_WAM! Someone slammed into him, sending him flying back. _

"_Shit!" he shouted. An older man who was on the ground next to him, was breathing hard. _

"_Run, kid," he said. "You're going the wrong way!"_

"_But—" _

_The man stood up and grabbed Odd's shirt, pulling him up. _

"_My father is somewhere over there," Odd protested. "I have to find him."_

_The man studied his face. "Does he look like you?"_

"_Yes."_

_The man dropped Odd on the ground and grabbed his wrist. He began to pull him the other way. _

"_What are you doing?" Odd cried._

"_You shouldn't go that way."_

"_Why?"_

"_They—just don't."_

_Odd ripped his hand away from the old man and began running as fast as he could to the opposite direction._

_Odd ended up into a small cul-de-sac. One of XANA's crabs stood before him with a man in some robotic arms. _

"_That's new," Odd said. He grabbed a bar of some sort that was laying in a pile of junk and aimed it at the krab. _

"_Hey you!" Odd shouted. "Look over here, you piece of crap!"_

_The robot turned, and Odd could see the man in it's arms. _

_It was his father. _

"_DAD!" Odd shouted. _

"_Odd, get out of here now!" Odd's father shouted. _

"_NO!" Odd screamed. He darted towards the monster, slashing the beast's legs with his scrap of metal. _

_It happened too fast. _

_The monster swung one leg around and kicked Odd in the stomach, sending him flying back. Then it pointed it's laser at Odd's father and fired. _

"_NOOO!"_

Odd opened his eyes. He swung up in bed, breathing hard. He glanced around the tent full of sleeping boys.

Standing up, he made his way to the outhouses with his flashlight. It was colder for a desert night, and once again, there were no stars.

Odd pushed open the outhouse door and glanced at himself in the mirror. But then he turned and stared.

He noticed how different he looked.

His hair didn't go up in one big spike any more, but was spiked in the front and down by his neck. He had purple tips.

His eyes, the twinkling blue eyes, were gone. His eyes looked darker and no light twinkled in them.

His arms were bigger and stronger, and his shoulders didn't slump.

I'm changing, he thought.

He was. In more ways then one.

------------------------------------------------------------ br 

I need your opinion—should I add a new character in this? Because I had a cool idea, but I need opinions first!

SO REVIEW!


	11. Black Eyes

Adding a new character in this. NOTE: this SHALL NOT affect the whole story line, but add on to it….and you don't get to here much about him/her, but there's twist in the story….but nyway, read on.

---------------------------------------- br

"Yumi," XANA said. "Come here for a moment."

"Yes?" Yumi asked, setting her sword down. She walked over to XANA and one of his servants, who were both leaning over the big computer.

"I need you to go down to the scanners for a moment," XANA said.

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later."

Yumi shrugged and walked over to the elevators.

In the scanner, Yumi felt some strong wind rush upon her. She glanced around, hearing muttering voices. An urge of panic washed over her and her head began to pound. A bright light flashed and air pushed her upward. And it didn't stop.

Finally, just moments later, the scanner door opened and Yumi flew out, slamming herself on the ground. The metal floor felt cool on her face.

A dark hooded figure jerked her up and lead her to the elevator.

One of the scanners, across from the one Yumi had been in, began to buzz.

"What—what is that?" Yumi asked.

Light peeked through the cracks in the scanner and it buzzed loudly. Then it opened, with a fresh batch of mist.

The elevator doors closed before Yumi could see what was inside.

Up in the main control room, XANA draped a blanket over Yumi's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, child," he said. "The process can be a bit—harsh."

Yumi shrugged and shivered. "What was the thing in the scanner?"

"Never mind. Now go to your room."

Yumi nodded.

In her room in one of the highest towers, she sat there. Her hand stroked her black cat, a gift from one of XANA's supporters.

The cat meowed and tried to squirm away.

A sudden surge of anger washed through Yumi, and she took the cat and stood up.

The cat bit her.

Yumi took the cat over to the open window. She then dangled the cat over the edge, laughing.

"Going to nip at me now!" she hissed.

She then let go with one hand, hanging the cat by it's tail. The cat meowed and tried desperately to get free.

Yumi laughed harder.

A sound made Yumi turn to see one of the maids in XANA's castle, an old woman. She was staring at Yumi, who was still dangling the cat.

Suddenly embarrassed, Yumi set the cat back onto the floor. _Why did I do that?_ She wandered suddenly. She hadn't felt that angry, and yet she could have killed her cat.

"Stupid cat," she muttered.

"Ehem," the made said. Her face was pale with fear, but Yumi didn't understand why. After all, it wasn't like she dropped her cat.

"XANA would like to see you," the maid said.

Yumi nodded and made her way towards the door. But she stopped and turned herself to the mirror.

Her eyes were black.

"Huh?" she asked herself, and leaned closer. They were a dark black. Cold black.

"Maid, do my eyes look—"

But the maid was gone.

--------------------------------------------------- br

Aelita sat on one of the cargo boxes full of ammunition, twirling her new scarlet hair. She stared up at the stars, her mind wandering off. She wandered of the future. The question that tugged at her mind for the last few days seemed to eat away at her.

Would Earth win this war? Would she see her friends?

She stared up at the stars once more. There were so many. Scientists had said that each one of them had many planets around them. It was as if they were worlds.

Did Lyoko have a star? It was, after all, a mistake. It shouldn't have been created.

But was there something more to it then just numbers? Was it more then a giant computer? Did it have a meaning—a purpose?

Aelita wasn't sure, but her hunger to go into Lyoko once more grew.

---------------------------------------------------- br

"Sir," a scared servant with XANA said. XANA, who was sitting in the main control room sulking, looked up.

"This better be good, slave," he hissed.

"Then I better come back later," the servant said and began to make his way towards the elevator.

"Wait, what is it?" XANA asked. "Tell me."

"I'm not sure if I should, sir."

"I'm already in a bad mood. Might as well add onto it."

"Odd Della-Robbia is still…alive."

XANA banged his fist on the keyboard and stood up, sending the chair beneath him flying backwards.

"WHAT?" he shouted.

"The—the krab you sent to destroy him destroyed his—father," the servant stammered.

"How?"

"When—when you gave it Odd's DNA, you forgot it was in his fathers blood too. So he—he thought Odd's father was actually Odd."

XANA screamed curse words. "ANYTHING ELSE THAT IS SCREWED UP?" he demanded.

"No, sir."

"As if Niome wasn't bad enough."

--------------------------------------------------------------- b

A girl stood in one of the many hallways of XANA's castle, staring out of one of the many windows. Her big violet eyes watched as Yumi below her was training. She watched Yumi's body, tens and full of anger, charge at the wooden posts set up for her practice sessions.

The girl was wearing an all-black dress with black sandals. Her hair spilled into her face and past her shoulders. Her eyes looked down at the white tile floor. Words that her master had spoken to her earlier lingered in her mind.

"_You are nothing. You mean nothing. I thought you where everything." _

A tear slid down her face, yet then an idea dawned on her. He had told her something else.

"_And she can't live without you." _

The girl smiled and began to make her way down the hall. A plan was mad up in her head.

Her name was Niome.

-------------------------------------------------- br

"Odd!" General Stalls shouted. He hopped over a pile of debri and shoved a gun in Odd's hands. The platoon was station in a town called Arwood, and was _supposed _to be defending it.

"Huh?" Odd asked as the General took his rifle. The gun he had given him was a sniper.

The General then handed Ulrich an M16 and took her rifle.

"Odd, get in the sniper tower. Ulrich, I want you up front."

"Shit," Odd said. "We're separated."

"No worries. I'll see you after we lose, OK?" Ulrich replied.

Odd smiled and punched his friend in the shoulder. But then he frowned. "What if we don't see each other?"

Ulrich scowled. "Don't even talk like that, Odd. Don't."

"Hate to rush you, but get moving!" the General shouted.

Odd held out his hand. "Good luck, Samaria."

Ulrich grabbed it. "Good luck, smart ass."

"Bet you I can kill more of those sorry ass monsters then you," Odd said.

"Your on."

Ulrich made his was to the front of the line of solders wile Odd climbed on top of the roof.

In the distance, he could see the moving monsters and almost make out the types. He could see a block here, krab there, and maybe even a tarantula.

Odd turned around and looked at the town. It was shattered, broken.

This was what his world was like now.

But it didn't matter. Nothing did but one thing: winning. If he could save this sorry town, he could maybe save the world.

Not him, but the army.

Odd turned back and aimed his gun at one of the monsters.

"Hold on now," General Stalls said. "Bazookas ready?"

"Yes sir!" the group replied.

"AK-47's?"

"Yes sir!"

"Grenades?"

"Yes sir!"

"Snipers?"

"Yes sir!" Odd and the few snipers with him shouted.

"Let's kick some metal butt," Odd muttered under his breath. He fallowed one krab with his scope, eyeing it.

"Snipers," General Stalls said. "FIRE!"

Odd fired at the krab, hitting it in XANA's symbol in the front. He re-loaded and fired again. And again. Each one hit the monster perfectly.

But the monsters broke through and entered the town.

"Bazookas!" the General shouted.

The bazookas fired.

"Grenades!"

Grenades were thrown.

"FIRE!"

Guns were shooting, Odd was shooting, explosions left and right. Screams of pain and groans of metal filled the air. Dust and sand covered the town, making it hard to see.

But Odd didn't stop firing.

------------------------------------------------------------- br

The carnage was heavy, and the platoon had lost thirty-two men. But they had won.

Ulrich smiled to himself as he stepped on one of the damaged robots and glanced around at his friends. Some had grabbed the head of a tarantula and began to play football with it. The older boys, however, were collecting the dead men and stitching them up in sacks.

"What are you doing to do with the bodies?" Ulrich asked, wandering over.

"Burry them," a boy replied.

"Leave them here?"

"Where else should we put them?" the boy hissed. "WE burned the last ones."

Ulrich nodded and backed away. He then took off, looking for Odd.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- br

Idk, I felt like updating. This chapter wasn't so good but u'll here about the new girl in the next chappy, so don't worry!

and i know some people wanted more war scenes, which im not the best at writing. so i gave it a shot

I want at least five more reviews so I can update. So If I were u, I would review ASAP so I can update soon!


	12. Sides Divided

---------------------------------------------- br Niome br ------------------------------------------

Niome quietly opened her bedroom door and glanced both ways. Then she slid out and hurried down the hall. Making sure no one was around, she stepped into the old part of the castle. It was called the "factory" sector of the castle.

Her bare feet touched damp cold metal. Niome had never been in this part of the castle, for she had only been in Earth for a few days. She had only been in one room, called the scanner room. Where she had been born.

She was like another Yumi. A clone.

Niome slipped into the elevator and pressed down. The elevator screeched and jerked downward before stopping at her destination: the control room.

The girl tip-toed quietly to the main computer and reached in one of the drawers and pulled out five files. She glanced each on, trying to choose.

**Name: Ulrich Stern**

**Age: 14**

**Race: Samaria **

**Gender: Male**

**Location: Unknown **

**Occupation: US Army **

**Status: Alive**

**Name: Jeremie Belpois **

**Age: 14**

**Race: None**

**Gender: Male **

**Location: Unknown**

**Occupation: Unknown**

**Status: Unknown **

**Name: Aelita Hopper**

**Age: 13**

**Race: Elf **

**Gender: Female **

**Location: Unknown **

**Occupation: None **

**Status: Alive**

**Name: Odd Della-Robbia **

**Age: 14**

**Race: Cat**

**Gender: Male **

**Location: Unknown**

**Occupation: US soldier**

**Status: Terminated/Unknown **

"Odd Della-Robbia," Niome said. A picture of a boy with spiky hair was clipped onto the side of the file. Niome smiled. She slid the rest of the files back into the drawer and hurried back into her room with Odd's file.

"I…am…something," she said as she placed her hand on his picture and shut her eyes.

------------------------------------------------- br Odd br ------------------------------------------

Odd looked around the room he was in. It was large and a pale gray color.

"Hello, Odd," a kind voice said. Odd turned to see a beautiful girl with black hair and violate eyes sitting on what looked like a royal thrown.

"Uh…hi?" Odd replied.

The girl smiled. "I'm Niome."

"I guess you already know that I'm Odd."

Niome smiled and giggled. But then her smile lessened. "Odd, I need to warn you. XANA is after the rest of the gang and Aelita. Especially Aelita."

"Why?"

"Because…because she is his daughter."

Odd blinked. "No way!" he said. "She's Franz Hopper's daughter."

"Well, sort of…I guess you could say that. But when Franz Hopper went into Lyoko and XANA took him hostage, he _became _Franz Hopper. And he believed that Aelita was his daughter and loves her because that's what Franz did. He loved Aelita. And now, He wants to take her to The Island, as he calls it."

"Huh?"

"The Island, I think, is a place between vurtualness and reality. XANA built it for him and Aelita, so they could live there. Forever."

Odd shook his head. "I think I should wake up now."

The girl nodded and hopped off of the thrown. With one wave of her hand, a portal appeared.

"That's your way back," she said.

Odd stared in disbelief. "What…are you?"

Niome smiled. "I'm glad you asked." She sat down. "I'm Yumi's clone."

"But you look nothing like her!"

"I'm not supposed to, Odd. They scanned her and took some of her DNA to make a new figure. But, something went wrong."

"What?"

"When I was created, I took two things from Yumi. I took her memories from Earth, which is why I contacted you guys. And I took her…her light."

"Her light?"

"I took what made her a real person, Odd. Her kindness, her concern, and her careingness. I left her with her anger, sorrow, worry, jealousy, and her _pain._ But, the result of having her light side is that I have powers. She has physical strength, and I have mental strength."

"What are your powers?"

"To me, the world is like a big system. I can hack into things, like your dreams. I can block things, and deactivate things."

"But how?"

"I was created from a super computer, Odd. It's almost like I have super powers. But that doesn't matter now. The only way you can save the human race is if you get to the factory and stop XANA from taking Aelita into the supercomputer."

"But how will I get there?"

Niome looked down. "That I don't know, but I will try and guide you there. You will see me again, Odd. Very soon. And then I will explain—"

A dark figure in a hood appeared behind her.

"Niome!" the figure shouted.

"XANA!" Niome cried. "Odd—get into the portal. Hurry!"

"XANA?" Odd said. He narrowed his eyes at the figure, who grabbed Niome and held her back.

A portal appeared behind Odd.

"Odd, there isn't time. Get in!" Niome shouted, but XANA put his hand over her mouth.

Odd took one last look at XANA and dived into the portal.

------------------------------------------ br 

Odd opened his eyes and sat up. He shivered uncontrollably as the cold desert air bit through his skin. His entire platoon was asleep on the cold desert floor because the wounded men from yesterday's battle needed the tents. Odd pulled on his black hoodie over his tank top and stood up. He made his way over piles of sleeping boys and sleeping bags and out of the circle. He left the warmth of the circle and sat down in the middle of the desert floor, looking up at the stars. There were so many of them.

A tear formed out of one of his blue eyes. He wiped it away, but more came.

_Aelita, _he said. _I miss you so much. _

Ever since they had been apart, his hunger to see her grew. Her shoulder length pink hair, her twinkling green eyes, her naive looks. And her beautiful face. And for some reason, Odd felt like he liked her. More then a friend.

----------------------------------------------- br Aelita br -----------------------------------------

"WAKE UP, YOU LAZY BUM!" someone shouted in Aelita's ear.

Aelita jolted up and smashed her first against something hard. She glanced around, her fist throbbing. Then she saw Em.

Em's face was staring in to hers, giving her the Death Stare.

"Em—I'm so sorry!" Aelita pleaded, jumping up.

Em rubbed her face. "I'll punish you later. We've got trouble."

"Huh?" Aelita asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Thos creatures are at it again," Em said. "Lots of them."

"But we haven't even been training for a mo—"

"Doesn't matter. With your skills, I think you should handle the machine guns. That girl over their will hand you your ammunition." Em pointed to a girl with short black hair by some boxes.

Aelita nodded and made her way over to the girl.

The girl was giving out information to all of the other terrified machinegunists.

"Em sent me over here," she said.

The girl nodded and tied her hair back with a silver head band. "Names Yuna. So you're the one with the good eye? Then come here, you can be my shooter. I load the ammunition."

Aelita nodded.

"Machine gunners are usually up front and sometimes in the back. We have to defend the left side of the base, got it?"

Aelita nodded and grabbed a hand full of bullets and began to make her way over to the machine guns.

"Aelita" Yuna said. "Wait."

Aelita turned around.

Yuna handed her a knife. "If they get to close, cut the fuel line. Its right under them."

"But they might explode!" Aelita protested.

Yuna nodded sadly. "But like I said, just incase."

Aelita nodded.

About ten minutes later, the first Tarantula was spotted.

"There it is!" Yuna said, pointing through the dust. "There it is…"

Aelita aimed the machine gun at it, ready to fire.

"Wait for my command," Em said.

"You can do this, Aelita," Yuna said. "I know you can…"

"FIRE!"

Wile Yuna fed the ammunition through the fun, Aelita fired. Suddenly anger surged through her.

_You ruined my life. _

_You killed Yumi._

_You kept me linked to you._

_You stole my memory._

_You stole my father. _

_You destroyed my world._

_I.HATE.YOU._

Aelita fired away, shooting everything in her path. Yuna's eyes widened just watching her.

Something hit Yuna in the head, knocking her out. Aelita looked up to see a krab.

She stood up, watching it. It didn't move. He stared at her for a moment, looking into her eyes.

"YAAA!" Aelita shouted and ran under it, jamming the blade through the fuel line. It bursted, spraying her with oil. But she didn't care.

Aelita hopped out from under the krab and wiped her eyes. Then she realized everyone was cheering.

Aelita looked back at the krab. the symbol was blue, meaning the krab she killed was an officer. And krabs never fought without the officer.

Aelita turned back to the cheering crowd. Oil dripped down her face, and the knife, but it was worth it. It was all worth it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- br 

Tada! You know the drill, five more reviews and I update

So review loves


	13. It was you

WOW! I got five reviews on the spot yesterday  me so happy! So, I decided to keep my promise and write more.

The usual, 5 reviews and I update because that means u want to see more! (if I get more then five, I'll post more then one chapters.) so, read the story loves!

-------------------------------------------- br 

Yumi made her way down the long halls, her hands gripping her knife. She could hear footsteps behind her.

Someone was fallowing her.

Yumi stopped and turned slowly. A figure in a dark hood stood before her.

"XANA?" Yumi asked, but knew it wasn't him because the figure was smaller.

"Yumi," a girl's voice said. "I know it. I can see it in your eyes. You remember."

"I don't know what your talking about," Yumi hissed truthfully.

"Take my hand, Yumi," the girl said. "Take it and you will remember. You will be whole—"

"What? I am whole!"

The girl held out her hand. "Take it, Yumi. Stop XANA."

"I would never!" Yumi shouted. "Who _are _you?"

"Yumi, I am your—"

"Niome!" a voice shouted from behind Yumi. XANA was there, running his ass off to reach the girl.

"Yumi! I'm your clone! There are many things XANA hasn't told you—!"

XANA grabbed the girl and covered her mouth, but Yumi could not see her face.

"Yumi, you'll be—whole!" the girl said, but her mouth was still covered.

"XANA, wait…" Yumi said, but he was already dragging the girl down the hall.

Yumi stood there, alone in the hallway. She slowly made her way into her bedroom and plopped on her bed, ready for sleep.

-------------------------------------- br 

She was sitting on a rock by a stream. A brunette boy sat next to her, laughing along with her. The sun was shining and the stream carried a soft flowy rhythm to it. As the couple laughed and talked under the stream, the sky began to darken.

The boy looked up at the darkening sky. "Come," he said. "We must go." He took the girl's hand and the two began to run. Soon they were in an open field.

"Wait," the girl said. She stopped. "Where are we going?"

The boy, who was now in front of her, was panicked. "We must hurry!"

Suddenly, the land they were both on divided between them. The jerk caused the girl to fall forward, and tumble into the darkness. But the boy hung on.

"Don't let go," the girl pleaded.

The boy stared into her dark eyes with his brown eyes.

"I have to," he said. His voice was full of sadness. "I have to for what you are becoming." And he let go.

And Yumi fell into the darkness.

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The hot sun blared down on Odd as he chewed his thumbnail, thoughtfully watching the solders scramble by. The platoon had reached the safest place to be in the desert that was once France: Camp Melting Pot.

The reason it was called Camp Melting Pot was because this was basically the home base for all. It was where all of the platoons mixed together and stayed together. It was the largest camp out of the few that scattered the desert lands.

"Hey Odd, do you think they have hot dogs here?" Ulrich asked from beside him.

"MMMMM," Odd said. "Hot dogs…"

Ulrich laughed and hopped off the boxes they were leaning on. "I'm going to grab some food. Want any?"

Odd shook his head.

"Come on, man. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday."

"So what?"

Ulrich shrugged and lowered his voice. "Is this because of Aelita? If so, she's ok, Odd. I know it."

Odd shook his head. "It's NOT about Aelita."

Ulrich shrugged. "Sure, Odd."

As Ulrich walked away, Odd felt guilty for lying. It wasn't his fault that he felt this way. He just did. And it _was _about Aelita.

Then he saw someone that caught his eye. A girl with short scarlet hair stood there, talking to some girl. She was wearing a black tank-top, jean shorts, and boots. He couldn't tell what color her eyes were.

But the girl was so pretty.

Then he realized she looked like Aelita. And he suddenly his heart was aching to see her again, once more.

Odd whipped out his notebook and began writing a letter to Aelita to take his mind of the girl. And this time, he was going to tell the truth.

_Dear Aelita,_

_Well, I'm here at Camp Melting Pot. Seems like a dumb name for a camp. Anyway, I know it's been a month since I've seen you, and I miss you a lot. I guess all of this time apart has made me realize something. Something weird. _

_Remember all of those times in Lyoko? Remember the way I made you blush and we would laugh together. How we held hands, and not because we had too. Remembering all of this has made me think, and then, when you kissed me on the cheek, it made me realize that I…_

_I like you. _

_And if there was one girl I could choose to spend the rest of this short life I'm going to have with, it would be you. _

_And then it really made me wake up when I saw this girl. She had scarlet hair and was in the army, but she looked just like you. And I almost died because my heart ached so bad to see you. _

_You don't have to reply to this, Aelita. And I know you probably won't. But wherever you are, I want you to know that I'm with you. Always. And even though we may never see each other again, I will still love you. And remember that dumb promise we made last year? When I said I would take you to a roller coaster? Sounds dumb, but I will. A promise is a promise. _

_Love always,_

_Odd._

After reading the letter over and over again a few times, Odd decided it was too good to waist.

And so, he went over and wrote _Aelita Stones Hopper, Camp Forterdale, TI._(AN: Technical Institute.)

And he dropped it into the large mail box.

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"You know," Yuna said, taking a bite of her peach. "I've always wanted to pick a peach off of a peach tree."

"You're so weird," Aelita said, laughing.

"I'm going to check and see if I got any mail," Yuna said, standing up.

Aelita took a bite out of her peach and stared off into the crowds of solders. One boy caught her eye.

He had spiky hair, broad shoulders, and a serious look on his face. He was talking with a brunette boy Aelita didn't recognize. They both were really hot.

But the blond one seemed familiar, but Aelita couldn't put her finger on who it was.

Someone yelled in the crowed and the boy turned. Then he stood up and gathered his things and then blended in with the crowed of solders.

Aelita stared like she was in a trance.

"Earth to bone head," Yuna said. "Think you've got a letter."

"A letter?" Aelita asked. She snatched it from Yuna's hand. It couldn't be Jeremie, because he didn't even know where she was. So then who was it?

"It said your name, but I wasn't sure. It fell out of the box when I opened it. Did u stay at the TI before going to Camp Training?

Aelita nodded

She tore open the letter and read.

She leaned back against the boxes. It took her a few moments to let the letter finally sink it.

"He loves me,"

"Huh?" Yuna said.

"He loves me!" Aelita shouted. She sprung up and began dancing. "I love him! He loves me!"

"Calm down, psycho!" Yuna shouted. "Who likes you?"

"Odd," Aelita said. "Likes ME!"

Then it hit her. That boy. The blond she had seen just minutes before was…Odd?

He looked like it, he really had. And he had been here, for he had seen Aelita's scarlet hair.

She hopped down off the boxes, ignoring Yuna. She ran to the gates of the camp, running out. The platoon with Odd in it,

"Odd!" she shouted, running as fast as she could. But it was too late. He was gone. The platoon where just a bunch of dots in the distance.

She waved at the platoon until they were out of sight, still clutching the letter. She knew he couldn't see her, but she didn't care. Tears fell down her face she sighed.

Aelita wiped her eyes and made her way back to camp, only to find Em leaning against a jeep.

"What was that all about?" Em asked, taking a puff of her cigarette.

"None of your business," Aelita hissed, walking by.

Em slapped her in the back of the head. "Respect," she said, "Is what you must learn."

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REVIEW!


	14. Kill me now

Niome used her fingernail to chip of the remaining mold on the dungeon wall. She sighed and rubbed her ankles, which were raw from the chains claps around them.

The guard shoved some food through the bars. "I don't know why XANA kept you," he mumbled.

"Because with out me, Yumi would be dead," Niome said. She pushed away her food.

"And I won't eat."

"But if you won't eat, you'll starve," the guard said.

As if for the first time, Niome realized she could use this to her advantage.

She tossed the floor at the guard and curled into a ball.

"Eat," the guard hissed.

"Can't make me," Niome said.

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"XANA," a hurried voice said as the elevator doors slid open. XANA, who was almost asleep at the computer chair, jerked up.

"Huh? Wa?" he asked.

"XANA, we have a bit of a problem," one of XANA's slaves said. He seemed worried, even if XANA couldn't see his face.

"What is it?" XANA asked sleepily.

"Niome is threatening to…kill herself."

"WHAT!" XANA shouted angrily, jumping out of the chair.

"She got one of the guards knife and cut her arm, threatening to do more if you didn't see her soon."

XANA buried his face in his hands. "That damn clone," he said. "I'll be right down."

Deep in the dungeon, XANA saw Niome. She was in one of the corners of her cell, holding a knife above her wrist. Blood dripped down her arm.

"What do you want?" XANA hissed at her.

"I want you to stop looking for Aelita," Niome said.

"No," XANA said. "We can always take the knife from you, stupid girl."

"Oh yeah? Well I can always bite my toung and bleed to death. You can't stop me, XANA. There is not way," Niome replied, smirking.

XANA sighed.

"We can always put her to sleep," a guard suggested.

"No, she'd dream," XANA said. "And then she could move her way to Odd, Ulrich, or Jeremie's dreams and tell them everything."

Niome smirked. "I sure could, XANA."

XANA smiled sarcastically. "Alight, release her."

The guards opened the door, and Niome stepped out.

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Aelita and Yuna both sat on the cold desert floor, searching the sky for a shooting star.

"Why do you like the stars so much?" Yuna asked, drawing designs in the sand. "They're not that special."

"They are," Aelita protested. She stared up at the sky and closed her eyes. "They all mean something. They're like people, because none of them are ever the same."

"They outnumber us," Yuna said. "If they represented people, half the sky would be dark."

Aelita opened her eyes and turned to her friend. "Huh?"

"This war has killed most of the human race. It's like, we're all that's left."

Aelita nodded and looked at the ground. "And it's my fault."

"What?" Yuna said. "It can't be. It could never be your fault."

"This creature named XANA has caused this war," Aelita said.

"XANA? What's that?"

"Let's just say I know more about this war then anyone does," Aelita said.

"I don't get it," Yuna said

Aelita lowered her voice. "Promise you won't tell?"

"Promise."

"This is the story…"

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Niome poked her head out of her doorway, scanning the hallway. It was clear.

The clone creped out of the doorway and tiptoed quietly to the corner. She peered down the hallway.

Clear.

"Good," she mumbled and darted down the hallway as quick as she could and jumped into the open elevator and pressed the down button.

At the seventh floor, Niome slipped down the many hallways and ended up right where she wanted to: Yumi Ishyama's room.

She opened the door and tip-toed in to see Yumi curled in a ball. She had no blankets and was wearing the cloths she had on that very day, with her shoes and all. Even he sword was tied to her waist.

Niome wasn't stupid. If XANA found out she was here, she would have to go to desperate measures again. So she took a sword from the pile by Yumi's drawer and leaned it against her leg as she placed her hands on Yumi's head.

Niome shut her eyes and she began to glow white, along with Yumi.

"I hope this works…" she whispered.

"YAA!" Yumi screamed and grabbed Niome's hand, attempting to flip her over the bed. But Niome wasn't that weak. She tore her hand form Yumi's and swung her sword out, pointing it at Yumi's throat. Too bad, because Yumi had her sword at Niome's throat too.

"What did you do!" Yumi hissed.

"Yumi, you lived here before. I'm your clone."

"My what? Your crazy. You look nothing like me!"

"For the last time, I don't have too!"

"What is going on?" XANA's voice said. The room seemed to shake from his anger. He looked at the girls and sighed. "Lower the swords."

Yumi obeyed along with Niome.

"Niome, get to bed. NOW."

Niome was about to protest, but suddenly Yumi swung her sword. Luckily, Niome saw it coming and blocked it.

Niome stared into Yumi's eyes. They were dark black, and full of hate.

"Shit…" Niome muttered. "XANA, she's going to—"

Yumi began to swing her sword at Niome and fight her. Yumi's big wardrobe crashed down, blocking XANA's view of anything.

Niome tried to fight her the best she could, but Yumi's physical strength beat hers by a long shot. Finally she slammed against a corner and held the sword over her wrist. Breathing hard, she stared at Yumi.

"What are you doing?" Yumi hissed.

Niome glanced at XANA and then at Yumi. "Go ahead," she said, dropping her sword. "Kill me."

Yumi raised her sword, but stopped. Something wasn't right.

"Kill me," Niome said. She spread out her arms and shut her eyes. "Kill me now."

Yumi lowered her sword. "I…I can't."

"I want you to kill me," Niome said, opening her eyes. She had a strange glint in her eye, but she held no fear of death at all.

Yumi dropped her sword. "I don't know why but I… I can't."

"Yumi!" XANA shouted. He finally burst through the wardrobe. "Don't—"

He stopped when he saw the two girls standing there with no weapon in their hand.

"Niome, get to your room," he said in a agitated but calm voice. "NOW."

Niome hopped over the debri of the dresser and ran out of the room. But she was proud, for she had completed her mission. Not all of it, but enough.

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Before you throw tomatoes at me for this sucky chapter, remember that I had an urge to write this at one thirty in the morning 

The usual. 5 reviews and I update another beautiful chapter in the dark story ) and I promise to post more about the guys and Aelita next chapter, but I wanted a chapter just for Niome but I randomly added Aelita in there….lol so REVIEW!


	15. Snipers and Suicide

Nine reviews?

jumps up and down like a moron HURAY! NINE REVIEWS! YAY!

Thank you so much! Anyway, this chapter checks in on Aelita and Niome. So, if ya could, REVIEW! (five reviews, blah blah)

SO READ! D

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Months flew by. Soon, it was supposedly some time in February. Aelita spent most of her time writing letters to Odd Ulrich and Jeremie, each one about a page long. Wile she wasn't training or putting up with Em, she was either writing in her journal, talking with Yuna, or looking at the stars.

"I think I want to do back," Aelita said one night.

"To what?" Yuna asked.

"To Lyoko."

"I thought you said you hated that place."

"I did," Aelita said. "But I feel like…there's something there. Something just for me, you know?"

"Personally Aelita, I've never been to a virtual universe with a pissed-off virus in it, let alone live in it for twelve years. I still don't understand how this whole thing works!"

Aelita laughed and studied the sky. Then she turned into the distance of the desert, looking for the north star. But instead she saw something else.

"Yuna, can you see that?" Aelita asked, pointing into the horizon.

Yuna squinted. "Yeah. What is that?"

"Did Em say anything about another company moving into camp?" Aelita asked, alarmed.

"No," Yuna said in a small voice.

Aelita scrambled up. "We have to get back to camp and warn everyone," she said and grabbed Yuna's hand and yanked her up. "Let's move!"

The two darted toward the camp. Aelita tore into Em's tent.

"What in the hell!" Em shouted. Then she saw Aelita. "Oh God, what now?"

"There's something moving in towards camp, _fast_!" Aelita shouted.

Em cursed a few times before grabbing her gun from under the bed. "How much time do we have?"

"I don't know, probably about twenty minutes at tops."

"Alright, I want you and Yuna to scout ahead. There's no way we can fight these things off. I'm going to take the platoon and lead them into those rocks." Em handed Aelita a walkie talkie. "It'll vibrate if I call ya, OK? Now go! And wake the girls up!"

Aelita nodded. "Yuna's got that covered."

Em grabbed her bag and laid a hand on Aelita's shoulder. "You're a good kid, Stones," she said and made her way out of the tent.

"I got all the girls up, so what now?" Yuna asked from behind her.

"We scout," Aelita said. She walked over to a crate and flipped it open. Inside were four snipers and some boxes of ammunition.

"We…snipe?" Yuna asked.

"We're the best Em has," Aelita said. She tossed the gun to Yuna. "Let's kick some ass."

Yuna, still afraid, nodded.

The two darted away from the camp and slid behind some rocks. Luckily, there were more rocks to hide behind if anything went wrong.

The walkie talkie vibrated and Aelita answered.

"Em?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Pick off as many as you can. I've got two other people on the other sides."

"Hornets travel in groups of , and Kankrelats travel in groups of five," Aelita replied.

"Huh?"

"Long story. Just remember that."

She ended the call and glanced before her.

"Her we go," Yuna muttered.

"Here they come," Aelita said. "Once we fire, the other team will fire. Then we work it out that way, in a pattern. Got it?"

Yuna nodded and aimed.

"Ready?"

"FIRE!"

Aelita shot a krab in the center wile Yuna picked off a tarantula. Then she moved on too a block.

"Blocks travel in twos, so we both shoo them at the same time," Aelita said.

Yuna obeyed and the two shot, killing both. But by the time the monsters looked there was a hornet exploded and they turned away. They continued this pattern for a wile.

Aelita noticed something in the center of all of this. A human figure.

"Huh?" she wandered. "Yuna, is it possible that humans could join the enemy?"

"Sure. Humans can to whatever they wanted," Yuna replied. She reloaded.

Aelita turned back, but the human figure was gone.

"Huh?" she asked.

But something grabbed her from behind and yanked her backwards.

"Aelita!" Yuna shouted.

Aelita twisted backwards and swung around, finding herself face to face with a girl with black eyes. Aelita panicked and jammed her gun in the girls stomach. The girl jumped back, but she looked like she wasn't in pain.

Aelita aimed her gun and shot, but the girl dodged it.

"Who is she?" Aelita shouted.

Just then a loud horn rang through the air and the girl looked up. Then she took one last glance at Aelita and zipped away. She ran faster then any human could.

"What was she?" Yuna asked.

Aelita stared at the girl in aw. Something about the girl made her wander…

"Yumi," she said.

"Stones! Yuna!" Em shouted as the two trudged back into camp. They must have been fighting for at least an hour. The two were exhausted.

"You did an awesome job. Someone shot the officer, and they left!" Em patted the two on the back. "Good work!"

Aelita nodded, too tired to speak. She went into one of the tents and plopped on the bed, Yuna beside her.

"Yumi…" she muttered, remembering the girl with dark eyes.

"huh? I'm not Yumi I'm Yuna…" Yuna said.

Aelita shut her eyes. "Never mind…."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ br 

This isn't working, Niome thought. She was staring at the wall, listening to XANA yelling at Yumi.

"You could have taken her!" XANA shouted.

"She shot at me!" Yumi protested.

XANA slapped her. Niome could hear the smack of his hand on Yumi's face.

Niome smiled. She was glad Yumi hadn't taken Aelita.

XANA's plan was simple. He would take Aelita to that special sector, and then destroy the planet. Easy.

Which is why Niome had to stop Yumi.

The girl stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. XANA was right. She _was _nothing. She was just a copy, an image. Even if she had powers, they meant nothing.

A tear slid down the sad girls face, and she wiped it away. "Nothing is not meant to live," she whispered. She quietly opened her drawer and Grabbed two knives. She had stolen them from Yumi's room a few days ago.

She sat in the corner of her room, tears flowing down her face. _I'm nothing. I'm not even real…_

Jealousy stirred inside of her. _Ulrich loves her. No one loves me. Ulrich will always love her. No one will ever love me. _

She took the knife and slit three marks in her wrist. Then three marks in her other wrists.

Because it took a long time for her to bleed out, she wrote "ALONE" on her left arm with the knife.

Then she fell over.

Niome breathed in her own blood, and began to choke. She wanted to scream, but stayed quiet.

She will be gone. She will be gone. I will be gone.

Things began to spin as the girl began to close her eyes. She felt herself slip away into darkness.

_When clones die, where do they go? _

A loud noise interrupted her and she felt something try and lift her up.

_Will I go to heaven? _

Someone was screaming.

_To hell? _

Someone was talking.

_Will I go anywhere at all?_

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Not one of my best, but oh well. I just like the ending. This was more of a filler chapter, so no being mean!

Lol. So please review!


	16. Believe

OK, in my opinion, this chapter SUCKS. But, read on…if you dare….

You know the drill. REVIEW!

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Niome opened her eyes. A bright light surrounded her, and she felt all tingly. She smiled. Wherever she was, she felt so…

Cold?

The light faded into a bright room. Monitors and computers lined the was. Niome glanced at her arms, which was wrapped from the elbow down in clean bandages. It was twisted around her palm, leavening her fingers and thumbs exposed. She twitched her hand. Huh?

"I'm alive," she said in a small voice.

"And you wouldn't be if it wasn't for these machines and monitors, you wouldn't be," XANA hissed.

Niome scowled and leaned her head back against her pillow. "It was all pleasant until you spoke."

"You're drugged, clone," XANA hissed. "What game are you trying to play anyway? What are you doing?"

"If I die, she dies. If she dies, you die," Niome said.

XANA banged his fist on the wall and Niome laughed.

"Shut up, clone," XANA said.

"What was the point of naming me if that's all you call me?"

"I named you because I thought you had a purpose. I could see not."

Niome smirked. "I'm so worthless, yet you need me so much,"

"Shut up," XANA hissed.

"Face it," Niome said. "I hold the fate of Yumi's life. And if she dies, you most likely will too."

"You think I can't fight? You're wrong, girl!"

"Face it. You have no control over me."

Niome laughed and twisted her head, trying to grasp the IV line with her teeth and pull it out.

"Whose blood did you give me?" Niome asked, laying back on her pillow in defeat.

"Yumi's," XANA said. "It's basically your blood."

Niome made one last attempt to bite the IV line from her, but failed once more.

"Damn it," she said.

------------------------------------------------------------------ br 

It was dark. Yumi was sitting with a brunette boy by an old factory. Her legs were dangling down off the side on the bridge. She was laughing.

The girl looked up and smiled. "Ulrich," she said.

Ulrich smiled and blushed as he held her hand, making sure she wouldn't tumble into the river.

Yumi laughed. "I wish I could go swimming," she said. She smiled from ear to ear as she gazed at the brunette boy.

The boy smiled and nodded, but then frowned. "What have you become, Yumi?" he asked.

"Huh?" Yumi asked, confused.

"You're…like them. Like the monsters. You have no heart."

"I do too!" Yumi said. "What are you saying?"

"You lost your light, Yumi," the boy said. He looked close to tears. "I'm sorry." Then he pushed her off the bridge and let go of her hand.

"NO!" Yumi shouted as she fell into the water. She tried to claw her way to the surface, but the water swallowed her and dragged her down.

"I'm sorry," the boy said. Yumi watched his face get smaller and smaller as she sunk deeper and deeper….

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"NO!"

The Japanese girl sprung up in bed, looking around. She glanced around the dark room, breathing heavy.

"Niome!" she shouted angrily and rubbed her head. She grabbed her sword and threw back the covers, angrily padding down the hall and down the elevator. Then she reached the seventh floor, which was the hospital floor. She burst through Niome's room.

Niome was there, trying to snip the IV line that fed her blood with her teeth. Her arms were wrapped in bandages and she had something wrapped around her toung to keep her from biting it. She looked miserable.

"What did you do to me?" Yumi demanded. Niome glanced up, surprised. Then she smirked and stuck her bandaged toung out.

Yumi took her sword and with one clear move she swiped it off. Then she scowled.

"Why are you doing this?" Yumi demanded. Niome spit out the bandages.

"I'm your clone, Yumi," she said. "But when I was made, something went wrong."

"Yeah, right," Yumi said. She took her sword to Niome's throat. "What did you do to me." Yumi's black eyes stared into Niome's violet eyes.

"So you've been having the dreams?" Niome asked, smirking again.

"Why?" Yumi shouted.

"Yumi, I'm more capable of killing then you can imagine. I can make your life a nightmare, because I can control your thoughts and your dreams. I can use my light for good…" Niome smiled "And evil."

Yumi stared.

"What I gave you, Yumi, was a memory. Something you had before you went to Lyoko. About a boy you loved. I can't remember what it was exactly, because I gave it away to you. But I had it turned into a nightmare."

Yumi stared. "I never lived here before! I was created on Lyoko!"

"Do you honestly think XANA would tell the truth?" Niome asked.

Yumi was silent.

"So you honestly think," Niome continued, raising her voice. "That he would tell you something that's even _close _to the truth. He's lying, Yumi. And you know it."

Yumi looked at the ground.

"And you must believe," Niome said. "That I am your clone, and I can give you back what he took. You have to trust me. You have to believe."

Yumi sat there. She couldn't believe. She couldn't realize the truth. She didn't understand.

"I…can't…" she whispered.

Niome stared at her.

Yumi stood up and dropped her sword. Then she walked out of the room.

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"What happened here?" XANA asked, looking at the sword on the ground. Niome did't look at him. She stared out the tiny window.

"Niome?" XANA asked, confused.

"She has more of a heart then you do," Niome said.

XANA sighed. "Stay away from her, clone!"

"I didn't go by her," Niome said. "She came to me."

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_We are you now?_

_As I'm waiting for this war to end_

_I'm waiting for our hearts to blend_

_And I'm trying to listen to the sounds_

_Were are you now?_

_As I look upon this stretching sea_

_Of sand and desert beating me_

_How?_

_There you are_

_Smiling down at me_

_And I finally do believe_

_it's you_

_And I feel the same way too. _

Aelita wanted to tear the page out and send it to Odd, but decided against it. She closed her notebook and shut her eyes, leaning back against the tank she was riding on. She was still tired.

"Aelita!" someone hissed from beside her. Aelita opened her eyes. "What?" she demanded.

"We're here, smart one," Yuna said smirking.

Aelita hopped off of the tank and ran to catch up to her friend.

"Do you believe in love?" Aelita asked.

"What kind of dumb question is that?" Yuna asked, smirking. "Is this about that boy you talk about?"

"No! Just in general, Yuna."

Yuna pinched her friend's cheek. "Believe," she said and walked away.

Aelita stared off at her.

_Believe?_

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"Dude," Odd said, smacking a fly that landed on his neck. "Are you kidding me?"

Ulrich groaned at his best friends wining. It was the last thing he needed.

"Shut up," Ulrich said glumly. "You are really annoying."

"Oh, cheer up emo kid," Odd replied.

Ulrich scowled and took a sip of his drink. Then he watched as a few tanks rolled in.

"Were are these from?" Odd asked from beside him.

"I don't know. I think Camp Green Rock, but I'm not sure. Word was they dropped off a bunch of girls there."

"Damn," Odd said. "We just missed them!"

Ulrich laughed. But then he noticed something that slid off the tank. A book?

The brunette stood up and walked over by the tank and picked it up. He sat back down and flipped it open, studying the cover. He flipped open to the first page to see three words written in the center.

_Aelita_

_Stones_

_Hopper_

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Yeah, this chapter wasn't so good….i wanted another one and I felt like writing so POP here came this one! But because this one sucked, here's a preview for next chapter:

Cuts and bruises ran down her body and her lip dripped blood. She licked her teeth and spit the blood out at the dark hooded figure. "You are weak," she said. "You have no control." Then she lunged toward the figure and knocked him down, holding a knife to his neck. "It's over," she said.

NOTE: the names were cut out, so you have to guess who the people are!

So REVIEW!


	17. Anthem of Our Dieing Day

THIS chapter, my friend, is deticated to Niome and a slite Yumi, as in the beginning. Anyhoo, I started writing and went on and on more then I expected, and I decided to move the preview for last chapter for the next chapter. Sorry to keep you waiting! Anyway, read review, five or more reviews, whatever.

And also, I just want to thank all of you for reviewing trust me, u don't know how much it means to me!

Anyway, read on:

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"Yumi," s voice said, knocking on the door. "Child, are you awake?"

Yumi sat up in bed. IT was her maid "Yes."

"Come down to the main control room," her maid said. "XANA said he had a surprise for you."

Yumi smiled and nodded. She scrambled out of bed and put on her black cloak and went down the hall happily. She supposed XANA had gotten her a new set of knives, or maybe even a sword.

XANA was sitting at the computer chair of the control room, typing furiously away.

"XANA, you wanted to see me?" Yumi asked quietly, praying XANA was in a good mood.

"Yes," XANA said in an unusual calm voice. He reached down and took something out of his pocket.

"I wanted you to have it before you go on your mission again," XANA said. He handed Yumi a head band.

It was pure silver, with XANA's symbol engraved in the center. The metal ended and turned into a soft cotton that felt as soft as silk. Even with the dim light, the head band shined brightly. Yumi smiled and grasped it in her hand.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed and looked up at her master. "Thank you…"

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"Now, off you go. Train hard," XANA said, chuckling. _She's really thick, _he thought, smirking beneath the darkness of his hood.

_Doesn't she know once I have Aelita, I'm going to kill her? _He thought. _She has no purpose. _

XANA chuckled again as he watched Yumi grasp the head band and hop into the elevator. "I'm going to pay a visit to Niome," XANA said, grinning devilishly. He used with elevator with Yumi to the seventh floor, where Niome was.

Her room was full of monitors and machines. Niome had chewed off the bandages on her tongue, but she was in no hurry to bite it anytime soon. She looked so pathetic, the way she was sleeping. Her arms were wrapped from elbow to her palm, leavening her thumbs and fingers exposed. The same with her feet, which were tied to the bed post. She had gotten caugh banging her legs onto the metal post, and now her legs were damaged as well as her arms.

XANA stared at the girl. She looked so peaceful, sleeping away like that. XANA did not sleep, with fear she would someday brake free from his control.

"She's gaining power," he said softly as he watched her. He had made sure the blinds were shut and the security cameras were switched off so no one could hear anything.

"Niome," he whispered in her ear. "You will never break free from me. You will always be nobody. An image. A ghost. No one even knows you're here."

XANA could see her face twist into a very uncomfortable position. But her soft breathing meant she was still asleep.

"You may be able to make nightmares," XANA continued. "But you can't if your already in one, can you?"

XANA chuckled softly and got ready to leave. But he stopped and watched Niome sleep for a few moments.

A dark gloved hand traced Niome's cheeks, traveling down to her lips. Her face looked in pain almost.

"Such a shame," XANA said. "To waist such a pretty face on a clone." He laughed. "To bad I'll have to kill it." Then he turned and left.

---------------------------------------------------------------- br 

His words tickled her ears, hit hot breath shivering her spine. Niome tried her best to keep her eyes shut, along with her mouth. Then she heard him lean up.

And then he touched her cheek, tracing his leather glove from her cheek to her lips.

"Such a shame to waist such a pretty face on a clone," he said.

Niome, horrified, Turned away uncomfortably. She heard his footsteps lessen and the door close. XANA was gone.

Niome sat up, breathing hard. Her heart was pounding as she stared at the door, praying he wouldn't come in again. After several moments, her heart died down and she finished her task.

Niome twisted her body in an awkward position to remove the white covers, reveling her bandaged hand that was tied to the bed rail. She moved her thumb back hard, pain shooting up her arm. Then she used her fingernail to chip at the rope.

"Almost done," she whispered. The pain was horrible, but Niome knew if she didn't get free, XANA would get Aelita. Then everyone would go down.

Then, with one finally stroke of her thumb, the rope gave out and snapped into two, letting her hand free.

"Thank god!" she said as she untied the other hand, and then went to work on her feet.

Niome then dropped out of the bed and crouched onto the floor. Pain shot up her calves and the calluses of her feat felt bruised, and she winced. But she had a mission.

The clone creped quietly up to the window and peeked through the blinds at the hallway. A nurse walked by in a white uniform, and after that the hallway was empty. Niome smirked as she slipped out the door and darted down the hall and into the elevator.

"HEY!" someone shouted. Niome turned to see one of XANA's doctors.

He slammed the emergency stop button and stared ay Niome. Niome couldn't have felt any more uncomfortable the way he was staring at her thin hospital gown.

"You're that clone, aren't you?" he asked. "You're prettier then I thought."

Niome didn't reply.

"I know your not supposed to be out, but…" he grinned devilishly. "XANA said you were worthless, and we couldn't kill you though. But he never said anything about…" he smirked.

Niome could see where this was going, and a surge of anger weled through her.

NO.

"NO!"

Niome grabbed the knife in her pocked and lunged at the man, knocking him to the ground. His hand was about to swipe her off, but she let her teeth dig into the man's wrist.

She spit out his blood and smirked at the man on the ground, dead.

Then it hit her. IT felt like her insides were crushed and she was about to throw up.

"What?" she asked herself and studied her hands, that were covered in blood.

"I…I didn't just do that," Niome said. She stared her hands. "No. No, not me. I…I am light. I do not kill. I do not kill for anything. I only kill myself, not others…"

A tear slid out of her face.

_I can make nightmares…reality. _

_Maybe I am dark…_

The clone pushed the "go" button on the elevator and ran down the many halls, getting herself lost. Soon she discovered a room with rows and rows of winding stairs. Of course, she decided to climb them.

At the very top, Niome burst through the doors and found herself on a rooftop.

Staring out at the world, she saw it. As if for the first time, she saw everything.

Miles and miles of fire stretched out, casting a reflection of it in Niome's violate eyes. She felt herself weaken as she watched it.

The smoke rose and mixed with the already dark sky.

As Niome stood upon the rooftop, she saw a pain of a thousand years. She felt tears go down her face as she watched everything slowly burn.

_I can't do anything. _

_I'm here to watch._

The sun was begingto set and the flames died down a bit. Niome felt the wind push her hair of her shoulders and she looked at the burning city once more.

Another tear slid down her face. A song she once heard seemed to waft into her ears now.

_**Flash back**_

_**Niome was wandering down the halls. It was back when she had just come to earth. Shehad discovered her purpose, but decided against doing anything to help these 'humans'. Yet. **_

_**Niome heard something inside of a room. It was a soft, flowy sound. What was it? It sounded hard, and a voice was singing. **_

_**Niome, now curious, opened the door without hesitation to find the sound comeing from inside a box. She glanced around the room. Where was she?**_

"_**Oh, hello," someone said. Namine looked up to see a teenaged girl sitting on a rocking chair reading a magazine. She was dressed head to toe in black and had peircings everywhere. **_

"_**Hi…" Niome said. **_

"_**You must be the clone," the girl said. She stood up and held out her hand. "I'm Katrina."**_

_**Namine stuck out her hand. **_

_**Katirna laughed. "you shake hands, silly."**_

"_**Oh," Niome said as Katrina took her hand and gave it a brief shake. **_

"_**I heard sound, and I thought someone was talking," Niome said. She pounted to the box. "Who is that?"**_

"_**That's my radio. What you're hearing is music."**_

"_**Music?" Niome asked. "It sounds so…organized."**_

_**Katrina laughed. "Here," she said, handing it to her. "I only brought one CD with me when I moved here. It's a CD by Story of the Year. I think you'll like them."**_

_**Niome nodded and smiled. "Thank you."**_

A song from that CD was stuck into her head now. As she watched the city burn, she swallowed.

_From up here the city lights burn_

_Like a thousand miles of fire_

_And I'm here to sing this anthem_

_Of a dying day_

She stared into the emptiness of the world.

"So I am dark," she said to herself. "An angel, but dark. Good, but capable of so many bad things…"

Niome looked up at the sky. She opened her mouth and took a breath and began to sing softly.

"_From up here, the city lights burn_

_Like a thousand miles of fire_

_And I'm here to sing this anthem_

_Of our dying day."_

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SONG: Anthem of our dying day

ARTIST: Story of the year

If you ever get a chance, listen to the song. It would describe Niome perfectly. It's like she's a ghost, because no one really knows about her. And it even says something about a roof top D

Anyway, the next chapter will be called "Stay Alive." Muhahahahahaha. The story gets thicker!


	18. Stay Alive

Hmmmmmm…..not so proud of this chapter. BUT, there is also a new minor character added to thy story.

This was 12 pages long on Microsoft, so PLEASE if this one is bad then don't tell me in a mean way:(

-ehem- anyway, this is long and boring, but please review anyway! And this is 100 percent Aelita and no other characters. So….enjoy.

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"Come _on_," Yuna urged, almost dragging Aelita out of the tent. "We're leavening now!"

"I can't find it!" Aelita said, panicked. She unloaded her clothes again and moved on to look under the bed. Yuna rolled her eyes and shoved her clothes in her bag again, zipping it up.

"My diary!" Aelita shouted. "Months and months of writing now wasted!"

"Oh, come _on_!" Yuna shouted.

"What if someone read it?" Aelita asked as Yuna dragged her out the tent entrance and down to the tanks that was waiting for them.

"I don't think they'll care who Aelita Stones is!" Yuna said. "The only people you know is that Odd kid and the Ulritch guy that are in the army."

"His name is Ulrich," Aelita corrected.

Yuna rolled her eyes. "Whatever! The point is, Aelita, they're probably far ahead of us by now!"

Aelita shrugged. "But it's full of my personal thoughts!"

"Oh, come on," Yuna replied.

Aelita pouted and hopped onto the tank's wheels.

…………………………………………………………………………..

"What's that?" Aelita asked. It had been almost a day since they left camp, and now it was almost dawn. The sky was tracing a light navy color as the squad of jeeps trooped their way through the desert.

Yuna didn't reply. Aelita noticed she was asleep, or just ignoring her. The pink haired girl sighed and looked off into the distance. There stood a large figure. It must have been big, for is stuck out of the horizon like a sore thumb.

Everyone was whispering and pointing at Em and another General named General Stoway. The two were in the front of the group arguing like crazy.

"What are they arguing about?" Aelita hopped off the tank and stood next to a girl with red hair and freckles.

"I think it has to do with that object over there," the girl replied. She stuck out a hand. "I'm Sarah, by the way."

"I'm Aelita."

"Anyway, I think I know what it is. I heard lots of rumors about these things at Camp Melting Pot. You see, my sister and a bunch of her friends were there so I talked to them and they told me about a game. And they said they saw something like that before they--"

"A game?" Aelita asked, puzzled.

"They call it 'stay alive'."

Aelita almost choked on her own spit. "Wha—what do they call it?"

"Stay alive," Sarah repeated. She leaned close to Aelita. "But shush, because I don't want to spook the other girls."

"What's the point of the game?" Aelita asked.

"Simple: Stay alive. The game works like this: The monsters that we're facing select a few people and lock the others away. Then they take them to a coliseum, which is what we're supposedly seeing right now. The few people who are selected are given weapons and vehicles. Then they must try and stay alive. BUT, they each get their turn to hit each other. That's why its called stay alive."

Aelita's mouth dropped open. "You've got to be kidding me."

Sarah shook her head. "No, I'm not."

"Then we can go around it!"

"No! you didn't let me finish. Anyway, whichever team wins gets to leave the coliseum. Or stay, if the robots win."

"What's the point of this?" Aelita asked, stareing ahead.

"I don't know. They say that humans make it. Humans that joined the other side."

"Tell them! Tell them NOW!" Aelita shouted. She shoved Sarah towards the two arguing generals.

Sara glanced nervously back to Aelita and then walked over the two generals and walked up to them.

Aleta watched as the three argued. But before anyone could say anything else, something happened.

Someone screamed, but before Aelita could turn, something grabbed her foot. Aelita screamed and looked down and her feet to see what grabbed her.

A hand was sticking out of the sand.

"Sand people!" Someone called.

"Huh?" Aelita wandered.

br --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**ONE HOUR LATER:**

"MOVE!"

Something hard slammed into Aelita's back and she jerked her head up angrily, glancing around. A dark hooded figure was behind her with a long hard stick.

Aelita scowled and turned back to the long hallway she was walking through. It was pretty rusty, and smelled bad. Like either something was decaying or Odd's old gym socks. The group soon cleared into a large opening, revealing a coliseum ring.

The coliseum looked a lot like the ones that the Romans built, but had no seats and was metal. On the sides were machines and robots that Aelita had never even scene before. It was either a coliseum or a giant metal bowel.

They all stomped their feet and roared in excitement as the platoon rounded in.

"Line up," a man ordered. The group did as they were told.

A man walked down the line, examining each girl with care. He then chose a girl with blond hair and blue eyes.

He smirked as she walked by, eyeing her.

_Stupid pervs, _Aelita thought. She noticed the man's eyes were red and had XANA's symbol in it.

_Huh? What the—_

The man selected five more girls including Yuna before he pointed a finger at Aelita.

"you," he said, smirking. "The pretty scarlet one."

Aelita knew that was her calling. She bordly walked over to where the other girls were, ignoring the eyes on her.

"Lock the others in the cage," the man said. He them smirked again at the seven girls he had chose.

"Listen up, cuties," he said. "This is a game that tests your skills. You lose, you die. It's simple. You get fair weapons and vehicles. Each side gets one chance to attack. You defend and then strike. You're versing machines, whatever. And, if you win, then you get to go free with your platoon. Got it?"

"You still haven't explained the point of this game," Aelita hissed.

The man looked surprised for a minute, but then smirked. "The point is to test a human's real skill."

"No," Aelita said, almost laughing. "I mean the point that isn't really stupid!"

The man grabbed Aelita and pinned her up against the wall, twisting her arm back. Aelita yelped in pain and she felt something shark poke the back of her neck.

"I suggest you shut up, girl," he hissed in her ear. "Or you'll experience more things then death."

He turned and let go of Aelita. "Everyone clear on what happens of you step out of line?"

The girls nodded, frozen.

"Well then, get suited up for your clothes in that room over there. There is armor and some weapons in their. Clear?"

"This is crazy," Yuna hissed into Aelita's ear. "this is so crazy. It's a death wish. We're going to die."

"So be it," Aelita said.

The girls slipped into their armor. Aelita wore red and gold steal armor and was hard as a rock but was very light. Her skin was covered with fingerless red gloves that rose up to her elbows.

A head band was placed on her head: a XANA symbol with a scratch through the mark.

"Ready?" one of the men asked. "Take your places."

The girls trudged over all the way to the other side of the ring, all about to piss themselves from fear.

Aelita could tell who was the best fighter and who was the worst. By Em's judgment, she, Yuna, and a pretty blond girl were probably the best. The middle ranked girls would be Shauna and Kaye.

Shauna, a girl with smooth white skin and her brown hair in two buns looked like she was planning out an attack already. Kaye, a small girl with short brown hair was by her side.

The two who were most likely to choke were Alicia and Clair. They were both shaking and Aelita noticed one was clinging on to the other in fear.

Aelita glanced at the blond. "What's your name?"

"Ami," the girl replied quietly. She looked innocent, but her bright blue eyes looked hard and her purples were narrowed.

Ami. Sounded like she didn't talk so much by the way she was so quiet all the time.

"Alright. We need a captain who's going to help plan—"

At once everyone pointed to her.

"Why me?" Aelita protested.

"You're the good one," Yuna said.

Just then a loud horn tore through the air and made Aelita's ear drums want to explode. She turned around and moved her eyes across the coliseum. Surprisingly, she saw no monsters. Yet.

_Good. _She thought. _This will buy us some time._ The scarlet haired girl glanced around the ring. Some scraps of metal were laid out, used for cover.

Aelita glanced toward the monsters again. _This is too long, _she thought. _XANA's monsters must be…_

Then she got it.

"Ambush!" she cried. She grabbed her sharp knives and scanned the ring around her. "Hurry up! We need cover. We have to spread out."

The girls nodded and darted in different directions, each sliding behind piece of scrap metal.

Aelita heard something, like a gasp, but ignored it and turned her face toward were the monsters were.

_These are stronger then we are, _she thought. _And faster. And quieter— _

"Aelita!" someone shouted. Aelita recognized the voice. It was Alicia.

She darted over to Alicia.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's Clair," Alicia said, shaking. Her wide brown eyes were washed over in fear. "She's gone."

Aelita's eyes widened and she stared at Alicia. "What?"

"She—she was here a second ago and I heard someone gasp and I turned and she was g—gone!"

Aelita got the message quickly. "They're going to pick us off one by one," she muttered.

"Yuna! Get everyone and bring them here now!"

Aelita heard footsteps and the six remaining girls hid behind the metal.

"Where is Clair?" Alicia asked. "We need to find her!"

"Clair isn't the issue right now," Aelita hissed. "The issue is finding out where the enemy is. Ami, do you think you can climb that scrap and see where the enemy is without being seen?"

Ami nodded and started .

"Yuna, I want you and Kaye to push that piece of metal over here with ours and me and Shauna can get the other one. We need to take advantage of this time. Keep your eyes on each other and stay alert."

"What should I do?" Alicia asked.

"Wait here," Aelita replied. The girls nodded at each mother and did their work.

"We have to hurry," Aelita said. She positioned herself on the other side of the metal shield, pushing with all her strength. To her fortune, the metal moved a bit. It would be easy with Shauna with her.

Then she noticed something in the front of the metal. A foot.

Leaning out with caution, she saw a sickening sight.

There was Clair. She was covered in blood, her arms spread out and her eyes looking lifelessly into the sky. Her mouth was open in fear and blood soaked her blond hair.

Aelita jerked back, squeezing her eyes shut. She began to shake.

"Aelita?" Shauna asked. "What's wrong?"

"C—Clair," Aelita managed to say. "Please don't look, Shauna."

Shauna stared. "Is she…?"

Aelita nodded. "Just don't tell Alicia. Not yet."

Shauna nodded, understanding. "I'll see her when I move the scrap of metal anyway."

Aelita was still shaking. "Just don't look back."

Aelita pushed all her wait on the metal, feeling the pain flair up in her back as it pressed against the scrap. Her eyes were still shut.

Shauna, who was beside her, grunted. "This thing is heavier then it looks."

Aelita agreed, but didn't reply.

Finally, the two felt it slam against another metal object only a few minutes after they began pushing it.

"Good work," Aelita said, adjusting her head band. "Now I think we may have a chance at—"

_Ping! _

The girls ducked down as they heard a sound of something hitting their fort. Aelita knew it was a bullet that had bounced off the scraps. She smirked.

"Good. One weapon down for them to use."

Ami appeared in front of her out of no where. "There are three block things, and five things that look like slugs along with a weird creature and a thing that looks like a crab."

"Creepers, a tarantula, and a krab," Aelita muttered. "That's strange. Krabs travel in twos along with tarantulas. Hmmm…"

Another _ping _was heard on the metal. Aelita's hand flew to her knives, but she then pulled them away. _Not yet, Aelita. You are defending. _

"Here they come!" Ami shouted.

A krab appeared from behind the metal and fired. Aelita jumped up and her and Ami ran away with Shauna at their heals. They slid themselves behind some cover.

"Where are Yuna and Alicia?" Aelita asked, spotting Kaye by herself behind the metal.

"They must be close," Shauna said.

Something fired, and Alicia screamed.

"Alicia! Calm down its just—"

Alicia, frozen, pointed a finger. Aelita fallowed her gaze. It was Kaye.

A krab was there, with his leg sticking through Kaye's chest. Kaye gasped and tried to breath, but she was bleeding.

_Rules or no rules, I'm fighting! _Aelita thought. She grabbed her knifes and ran out into the middle of the battle field. Lasers and shots buzzed around her and she felt something slice into her leg. But she kept running.

Aelita used her strength to jump herself on top of the krab and stick a knife in the XANA symbol. She then hopped down and yanked Kaye off the krab.

"W—win," Kaye said, blood oozing out of her mouth. "F—for me…"

"Kaye, hang in there…" Aelita said, but the girl already laid her head down and stared lifelessly into the sky.

"XANA, you bitch!" Aelita shouted. She stood up, grasping her knives.

"Aelita!" Shauna shouted.

Aelita smirked and flung her knives at a block. It exploded almost instantly.

Aelita darted over to the block and grabbed her knives. She scanned around the ring. Then she saw it.

A vehicle?

It looked a lot like the one Ulrich had in Lyoko. Aelita smirked and saw an overwing and even and two overboards.

"Shauna! Yuna! Ami! Alicia!" Aelita shouted. She hopped onto the motorcycle, her fingers sliding across the steering bars.

Shauna hopped onto the overwing with Alicia on behind her. "This is awesome," she said in aw.

Yuna jumped onto the overboard with Ami right beside her.

"Alright, here is how this works. We distract them."

"Brilliant!" Alicia shouted.

"I don't see you doing much!"

Alicia scowled. "You send people out for bait and they get killed wile you kill the monsters. Great plan!"

"Shut up and move!" Aelita shouted. She turned the gas on her vehicle and sped away with Ami and Yuna beside her.

"Yuna, get on one side of the tarantula and ill get on the other. Ami, come behind it and stab it's symbol on the head."

The girls nodded and Yuna sped to one side and Aelita rode to the other.

Ami tossed her knives at the monster, all of them sticking out of the head.

"Good," she said.

The monsters began to slowly head back to the other side of the ring.

"It's our turn to attack!" Yuna shouted.

"Don't let them get away," Aelita said as she sped up on her motorcycle. She grabbed a knife from her pocket and jammed it into a block as she spread by.

An explosion was heard from behind the scarlet haired girl. She turned around to see Yuna and Ami speeding away from some smoke. Shauna and Alicia where out of sight.

"Dammit, where are they?" Aelita mumbled. She stopped her vehicle and glanced around the ring. Three krabs and one tarantula were left out of the enemies.

_Good! All we need is Shauna and Alicia here and I can plan a— _

"Aelita!"

Aelita narrowed her eyes and scanned around the smoke filled area. Her eyes began to burn and she spit out some dirt that had caked in her mouth. Then she saw a human figure.

"Aelita!"

Aelita fallowed the voice and then saw Alicia on the ground. Shauna, Ami, and Yuna were crowded around her. Shauna had her hands pressed against her neck.

"She's gone," she said quietly.

Aelita, once again, saw her another one of her teammates dead. She grimaced at the sight and looked away.

"We have three krabs and one tarantula left before we officially win the game," she said slowly.

"We only have four team mates!" Yuna cried.

"I know," Aelita hissed. "shut up. I'm not done!"

"Me shut up? You don't even care Alicia's dead. You don't care then anyone is dead! You just care about yourself!"

"Shut up!" Aelita screamed. "That's not true! I care about the people who are alive so we don't all end up dead!"

"You're think you're in charge! It's _your _fault we're in this war anyway!"

Aelita was shocked. She stared into Yuna's eyes and was speechless.

"BOTH OF YOU STOP!" Ami shouted. "We need to focus on—"

Before the blond could finish, she was thrown back onto the ground.

"Ami!" Yuna cried.

"I'm…fine," Ami replied, clutching her arm.

Aelita turned and saw a tarantula. She pulled out a knife that was stuck inside a block.

But then something odd happened. The tarantula just fell over lifelessly.

Shauna appeared behind the tarantula, smirking.

"Show off!" Yuna shouted.

Ami laughed.

Aelita couldn't help but smile. Then she got ready. "Stay close," she said.

The three others nodded and they faced all sides back to back.

"Krab, seven o'clock," Ami said. She didn't look at it.

"I see something beside it," Yuna said.

"Wait, is it our turn to defend or to attack?"

"Who the hell cares! Just throw the freaking knife!"

Ami tossed her knife and the sound of it hitting metal came through the dust.

"Boo ya!" she said in triumph.

"Shush!" Aelita hissed back, smirking. "You're going to get caught!"

A sound behind Aelita made her jump. She knew it was a krab, but before she could do anything she turned and saw Yuna and Shauna both on top of a krab, their swords sticking out of the krab's symbol.

Aelita smirked at the last one that was making it's way over to the girls. "This one is MINE!" She shouted and dodged the krabs attacks. She did a baseball slide under the krab and stuck her knife into the bottom, slashing through the fuel tank. Once again, she was covered in black oil. Luckily she blocked her head so none got into her eyes.

"WE WON!" Everyone shouted and began to jump up and down. The game was done. They had stayed alive.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

The man with the red eyes scowled as he stared at the four girls that had survived. He shook his head. "We went to easy on them."

"Well, too bad," Aelita replied. "the rules of the game say you let us leave."

The man smirked. "Why would I do that?"

The girl's mouth dropped open. "But you said—"

"I'm evil, stupid little girl! I don't keep promises!"

"But you kept the rest!"

"SO?"

"Why would I throw something like you away?" the man said, smirking.

"Don't touch her."

The man turned and his eyes widened at the sight.

A boy with spiky black hair and black eyes stood there. He was wearing a black shirt with long black shorts along with no shoes.

His stare was cold as death it's self. He looked directly at the man and then at Aelita.

"Let them go," he said. "You." He pointed to Aelita. "Come with me."

Aelita was shaking. The boy looked as if her was just her age, and was a little bit taller then her. His headband had XANA's symbol on it, meaning he was working for XANA.

She took a glance back at her friends and slowly walked towards the boy, who grabbed her wrist.

"This girls name is Aelita Hopper, so I suggest you don't touch her."

The red-eyed man looked like he was going to faint. "H—how do you know?"

"Shut up and let the others go. I'm taking her."

The man nodded and opened the gates, letting the soldiers free.

The boy wasted no time at all. He dragged Aelita into the dark shadows so no one could see them."

"Let me go!" Aelita said, struggling.

The boy only smirked. "Stop wasting your time."

Aelita was surprised when she felt the boys hand on her neck. She felt his fingers press against her pressure point and her vision began to fade.

……………………………………………………………………….

The black haired boy smirked as the girl slipped into his arms. "Mission complete," he said. He carried her bridal-style into a bed room and tossed her on the bed. He then knelt down on the floor and pulled out a large radio from under the bed.

"Niome?" he asked into the microphone. "Niome can you hear me? I've got the girl. I repeat, I've got Aelita Hopper."

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WHOOO! Finally done that chapter! Anyhoo, I know there is a random character but Niome cant save the planet by herself can she! Muhahaha! Anyway, five reviews and I post another pricless chapter!

Ok, one more thing before you click the review button. I just want to know who's the people's faorate character so far:

**Jeremie**

**Odd**

**Aelita**

**Yumi**

**Ulrich**

**Niome**

**XANA**

**Random new guy XD**

So please vote and review!


	19. Deathwish

Many of you have told me this story is kind of like Kingdome hearts, and YES it is! I got the idea for Niome when I was in paint and was playing around with a pic of Namine. Next thing I knew her hair turned black. That's what got me thinking, and I decided to make a new character. But I wanted her to be XANA's, so I decided to make her Yumi's clone.

So if I type Namine instead of Niome, don't' chew me out for it XD

Anyway, you find out who the boy is and Niome and XANA face off. Enjoy!

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Niome's bare bandaged feet crunched on crispy leaves of the forest floor. She glanced around, searching for enemies behind every tree and every rock.

_I have to save them, _she thought. The girl used all of her strength to speed through the trees.

Finally, a clearing. Niome smirked. _Too easy, _she thought and stopped at a large stone wall. _This must be the castle. I knew I'd get there in time! _

Climbing the wall would be the really hard part. Getting in and rescuing Ulrich and Aelita would be a piece of cake.

Niome climbed the wall in a flash. Literally. She moved so fast she could hardly remember climbing. _Hmm? Is XANA playing tricks on me?_

The girl shrugged and opened a door on the roof and hopped down. Inside, it was quiet.

_Where the hell is XANA? _She wandered, suddenly panicking. _HE could be anywhere! He may be hiding his monsters and then he'll—_

_Shut up, Niome. You're scaring yourself. _

Still troubled, Niome ran as fast as she could down the hall and down flights of stairs. The girl could hear things behind her and maybe even footsteps, but she ignored them and ran on.

Finally, Niome reached the doors of the dungeon. She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing hard.

_What's wrong with me? _

She slowly made her way down the empty halls full of cells. Most of the prisoners had been let out and used either as slaves or soldiers in the army. But Niome knew that two certain people where here that she needed to save…

"HELP!"

The voice rang through the silent halls. Niome sped up. It sounded like Aelita!

"Aelita!" Niome called. She swung open a door to see a girl on the floor. She rushed to her side, thinking it was Yumi. But it was herself.

The girl was laying on the floor, smirking. Blood was oozing from her chest from a knife that was stuck inside of her.

"Dear Niome," the girl said. "You are a foolish little girl."

"Wh—what?" Niome asked, shocked.

"Wake up, stupid."

Niome's head suddenly felt like someone had whacked it. She put her hands to her head and choked on a scream.

"You can't hide what you are!" her other self cried. "You cant hide it by doing good!"

Niome's head felt like it was about to explode.

"You're worse then XANA!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Niome shot up in bed and was breathing hard. Her black dress stuck her body and her dark hair was drenched in sweat. Her eyes were wide and her hand was placed on the knife that was latched onto her leg.

"Hmm," said a dark voice from the shadows.

Niome swung around and saw nothing. She knew it was XANA, but she couldn't see him.

"Tsk, tsk," XANA said. "You can control the dreams of others and yet not your own self."

Niome wanted to kill him. "Shut up!" she hissed. "You don't know anything."

"That's no way to talk to your master, Niome."

Niome spit in the direction of his voice. "Shut up. You're not my master."

"I know you got to him before me, Child," XANA said.

"I don't know what your talking about."

"Clones really are troublesome, you know?" XANA said. "Anyway, back to my point. Niome, I used to think you were such a burden. You still are, yes, but a burden with hope. I know what you are. You are so…light…" XANA smirked, but Niome couldn't see. "And yet…so…dark."

There was a heavy silence through the dark room. Niome didn't know what to say. It was the truth…

"Even the ones who were granted with the power of light—like you—have disadvantages. I know what your power is, Clone. The light has given you so much darkness as well…and power."

Niome stood up. "I'm not telling you where he is!"

"Well, I know ill get it out of you eventually."

Niome smirked and laughed. "XANA, you need a life. You hide yourself behind people too many times. You need to fight."

XANA got angry. "You are a real burden, Niome."

Niome laughed. "I know."

XANA moved throughout the shadows and attempted to capture Niome. But she was too fast.

"Come on, old man," Niome taunted. "Find me."

XANA returned to his emotionless state. "You aren't worth it."

"XANA, I want you to prove it to me. Prove you can fight."

XANA smirked under his hood. "Fallow me to the training floor and I shall show you what I can do."

"Gladly," Niome said, smirking.

"Deathwish." XANA muttered.

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Aelita opened her eyes. Her neck ached like crazy as she sat up and rubbed her head. Her entire body ached, possibly from the battle before. Even her fingers were stiff.

_Where am I? _Aelita wandered and scanned the room. It looked like a nice hotel sweet, with comfy leather chairs in the corners and crystal vase lamps. Aelita could feel the comforter beneath her was like a cloud. And she noticed she was on a king-sized bed.

A sound to her left made Aelita jump. A handsome boy with spiky black hair appeared with a tray. His eyes were a grey-ish color and his skin was pale. On his forehead was a headband with XANA's symbol carved into it.

"Finally, you're awake," said the boy.

Aelita tried to scramble away, but her body told her otherwise. She collapsed back on the bed.

"I can't move my legs!" she complained as she used her arms to position herself on the bed again.

"Because you're drugged," said the handsome boy.

Aelita scowled. "What do you want?"

The boy set his tray down on the bed. "You should eat before I tell you anything."

Aelita glanced at the food. She could smell it already. Fresh crispy waffles with bacon on the side and eggs scattered on the plate. It smelled like heaven and it sure beat the breakfast oatmeal Aelita had been eating for the past few months.

Then she tore herself away from the food. "Poison," she said, wrinkling her nose.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Just eat the food, dammit."

Aelita was a little surprised at what he said. But she stayed firm. "I know what XANA is. I lived with him for a matter of fact! And I know he wants to kill me and—"

"Kill you?" the boy laughed. "You don't even know the half of it!"

Aelita was surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Alright, let me start out. My name is Silas. I'm not your enemy by ANY means. I'm here to help."

Aelita stared in shock.

"XANA cloned himself _many _times. When I say many, I mean thousands. Notice how that man out there looked a lot like me, but older?"

Aelita nodded.

"Well, this girl named Niome who is actually Yumi's clone decided to—"

"WHAT?" Aelita shouted. "Yumi's clone!"

Silas laughed. "You really don't know anything, do you?"

"Hey let me have you know I've been—"

Silas put a finger to her lips. "Shhh…" he said. She handed her some bacon. "Eat and let me explain."

Aelita nodded and took a small bite of her food.

"Yumi is XANA's servant. She doesn't remember you at all," Silas said. "She is one of the most powerful things on this eath and is XANA's greatest weapon. But, like XANA, he needed more. So he decided to clone her.

"Something in the cloning process must have gone wrong, because Niome took Yumi's memories that were forgotten and she took what made Yumi really human—her light. So, being all good and stuff, Niome knew she had to help you guys out. So she disrupted my cloning process. She upgraded me in some parts, like strength, and lessened me in some. Like anger."

Aelita couldn't believe what she was hearing. She then started to laugh like crazy.

Silas looked furious. "What the hell are you laughing about? This isn't funny!"

Aelita stopped to take a breath. "This is _such _a crazy dream," she said. "I mean, come one! Yumi joining XANA? A clone named Niome? Give me a break!"

Silas suddenly smirk. "Niome told me you were stubborn, and head-strong. She was right."

Aelita stopped. "Hey! I'm not stubborn.

Silas stood up and laughed again. He then made his way to the door. He smirked. "What does it matter?" he asked. "You're dreaming, remember?"

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Niome felt a sharp pain in her back as something sharp slid through her flesh, only scratching the surface. She yelped out in pain.

XANA caught her arm and twisted it to her back, slamming her against the wall.

"Not so tough are you now?" he asked, kissing into her ear.

Niome used all her strength to push him off of her and run away before she could get cornered again. _Maybe if i— _Niome though before stopping suddenly. _Shut up, Niome! Don't even think about it! _

The troubled girl gripped onto her sword shakily. Breathing hard, she hung it over her head.

"Come on, XANA," she said. "Come get me."

Something slammed into Niome from behind, tossing her on the floor. The poor girl whacked her head on the ground. She could hardly see.

"No control, eh?" XANA asked. "I differ from that thought."

Anger surged through Niome. She could feel herself get so angry that she didn't feel like it was herself anymore.

Cuts and bruises ran down her body and her lip dripped blood. Niome licked her teeth and spit the blood out at XANA. "You are weak," she said. "You have no control." Then she lunged toward XANA and knocked him down, holding a knife to his neck. "It's over," she said.

XANA tried to move, but Niome was much stronger. He then saw her eyes.

He smirked suddenly. "I _knew _it!"

Niome could feel something stirring inside of her, yet she didn't know what. Her vision changed from blurry to sharp and clear. Her hands gripped on XANA's neck, causing him to choke. The knife was going to dig into his flesh and cut him open.

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XANA saw her eyes. They were red, with his own symbol in them in black. He suddently felt an emotion he had never felt before: fear.

_The light, _he thought. _The light has made her into…a monster? This doesn't make any sense! _

There was no hope. She would kill him.

Or would she?

"MASTER!"

A cold voice rang through the training room, shattering the silence. Niome turned her head, but still kept a grip on XANA.

Yumi was standing in the doorway, a sword in her hand. She narrowed her black eyes.

"Get…off…him!"

Niome didn't let go.

"Yumi, leave!" XANA shouted. "She's too dangerous!"

"Master, why are her eyes red?"

"It's not Niome any more. It's something else, and its stronger and more powerful. You need to leave before it's too late!"

"I can take her," Yumi hissed. She held out her sword, ready to battle.

Niome smirked and stepped on XANA's chest. She took out her own sword.

"Bring it."

Yumi charged, but as soon as she swung her sword that was supposed to slice right through Niome she was thrown back and slammed against a wall.

"Pitiful," Niome muttered.

Yumi sat up, breathing hard. "I'm not done," she said. She stood up and held out her sword. She closed her eyes and stood their, waiting for Niome to attack.

As soon as Niome even twitched, Yumi knew it. She felt the vibrations of the sounds in the air travel to her and touch her skin, notifying her that something was moving.

But Niome, apparently, stayed perfectly still. No sudden movement was made.

Yumi opened her eyes. "Smart," she said.

Niome smirked and then lunged towards Yumi.

Poor Yumi. She did her best to fight, but Niome was faster then ever before. Soon Niome had managed to fling Yumi's sword from her hands and twist Yumi's arm behind her back.

"Now," she said. "You die."

"GET OFF!" Yumi screamed, but Niome only twisted her arms even more.

"Do you feel that?" Niome asked. "It's called pain."

Yumi gritted her teeth.

"I felt this for as long as I have existed," Niome continued. "Emotionally, and physically."

"AHH!" Yumi cried out in pain, a tear coming down her cheek.

Niome smirked and reached down, grabbing her knife. "You die now."

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Something firm was pressed against Aelita's back. IT moved back and forth, rocking her.

"Hmm?" she muttered, her face pressed into something soft.

"AELITA!" something hissed in her ear. The breath tickled her face.

Aelita opened her eyes and saw two dark eyes stair back at her.

"What the hell!" she said and sat up, breathing hard.

"Finally! You're worse then I am!" it was Silas.

"Silas you scared me have to death!" Aelita cried.

"You're fault, not mine," Silas replied lamely. He stood up off the bed. "We have to go."

"Where?"

"To XANA."

Aelita shook her head. "There is NO WAY I'm going to see him, of all people!"

Silas rolled his eyes. "Come on, stop wining. I'm going to keep you safe."

"SO! I'm not seeing him!"

Silas shook his head. "Are you ever happy?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean come on! You're so stubborn! Niome told me all about you and your gang. They risked their lives and slaved their time for you and you still aren't happy? Jeez Aelita! She was right. You _are _the princess!"

Aelita stared at him. She couldn't believe he had just said that to him., Half of her wanted to slap him, and the other half wanted to burst into tears.

Then it hit her as hard as a brick. She _was _stubborn.

_All this time I wanted to be free, _She thought. _I cut my hair, I joined the army, and I fought. But I'm still Aelita Stones…I still have so many people doing this for me…_

An image of Jeremie popped into her mind. Tears began to stream down her face.

Silas was surprised. He hadn't expected that reaction.

"It's OK," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be like that."

Aelita threw her arms around him and started to cry in his shoulder.

"I'm so—worthless!" she sobbed.

"No your not," Silas said. "You're just stubborn. Niome is too."

Aelita wiped her eyes and still hung on to Silas. "Th—thank you."

"For what?"

Aelita pulled away and sniffed, giving him a sad smiled. "You made me realize I had to try harder to stop being Aelita Stones. I want to be Aelita Hopper."

Silas knew it was better not to ask. "Come on," he said, standing up. He offered her a hand. "We have to get moving."

Aelita nodded and took his hand. Silas grabbed his bag and the two began to run.

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Niome held her knife at Yumi's neck. The Japanese girl struggled and tried to break free, but it was no use.

Niome knew she couldn't kill her, or else she would die herself. But then she thought about—

Ulrich.

He had felt Ulrich's love for Yumi when she tapped into his dreams. She stayed hidden in the shadows and watched him do whatever he wanted. Mostly the dreams were of Yumi, and times they had kissed and held hands. Or even hugged.

Niome would watch them with a small ach in her stomach, and when she returned to the real world she would cry. She wanted love. She wanted to be able _to _love.

Niome then felt a tear come out of her monster eyes. She felt let go of Yumi who fell unconsciously on the floor.

She couldn't kill Yumi. And it was all because of love.

Niome dropped her sword and stood there. She then picked up her knife and jammed it through Yumi's arm.

Yumi winced in pain, but Niome ignored it. She turned to XANA.

"You don't have control."

XANA stood up and brushed himself off. "Join me, Niome," he said. He then held out his hand. "Join me and you can be somebody. Not just a clone."

Niome suddenly had temptation. She felt herself actually take his hand.

Kneeling at his feet, words were pushed out of her mouth. "I'm yours."

It didn't sound like Niome. It sounded like a darker voice.

XANA smirked.

Niome suddenly realized what she was doing. She sprung up and stared at XANA.

"I'm not anybody's!" she shouted. She picked up a sword. "I—I could kill you!"

XANA picked up Yumi and slung her over his shoulder. He then smirked.

"See you soon, Clone."

Niome was washed over in fear. Not from XANA, but a fear of herself.

She then ran. She ran up those many flights of stairs until she burst into the rooftop, sobbing.

"Stop," she said, tears falling down her face. "STOP!" She then looked out at the battlefield. A vision of solders marching through here seemed to slip into her head.

"They will come," she said. "Soon…"

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WOW! Niome is in a very bad position right now. The light has divided her! DUM DUM DUM!

Anyway, REVIEW PLEASE!


	20. Closer then we think

**Sorry for the late update! Been busy with Naruto fan fics for a wile. VERY addicting, you know?**

**ANYWAY! I'm proud to announce that this is the twentieth chapter of XANA's war, and I have 101 reviews! **

**Thank you all so much! This idea came to me wile watching Jarhead, and I couldn't keep it in my head so I typed it up and WOOSH! Came out XANA's war. But very many people have been with me all along, and I thank you SO MUCH!**

**I always wanted one of those fanfics with a hundred or more reviews, and I got one! I can finally truly call myself a writer!**

**Enough boring you with my pointless thoughts! Read on! (note: yeah sorry for spelling mistakes) **

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Niome shivered. The rooftop was extremely cold.

Leaning her head against the ledge, her violate eyes wandered up to the starts. Thousands of lights lit the sky, like white fire.

"How can a world this beautiful have so many horrible things in it?" she asked herself. Then she shut her eyes, hoping to fall into sleep.

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Silas moved swiftly throughout the desert, Aelita's hand in his. She was slowing him down, true, but the two had to get to XANA's castle before the American armies moved in. and he knew it would be very soon.

"Silas," Aelita panted from behind. "Can we stop?"

Silas slowed down. "We have to hurry, Miss Aelita," he said.

"For the last time, you don't have to call me that! Aelita is fine."

"Sorry. It was XANA's orders to call you that and I got it stuck in my head," Silas answered.

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Listen Silas, can we please rest? I'm not as strong as you."

Silas let out a breath and stared at the girl. _Stubborn, _he thought. He knew she wasn't going to move unless they stopped and took a drink or something. It was troublesome to stay with a girl much weaker then him. It made him feel more superior. But in the eyes of XANA, Aelita was the most superior then everyone.

"So tell me more about Niome," Aelita said, taking a sip from her water canteen.

"Well…" Silas said and tapped his chin. "She's stubborn, emotionally demented, and she's….very beautiful."

"Hmm. What does she look like?"

"She has longish dark hair, and big violate eyes. She's Yumi's height, and she's shaped like Yumi. But she's so much different. Not just in looks"

"Why is that?"

Silas shrugged. "She's been through pain. Lost of it. She's tried killing herself multiple times. But she's different because she's on her own. Yumi has XANA's support. Niome only has mine."

"Wait," Aelita said. "How do we know she's not faking?

"Huh?"

"I mean, she could be working for XANA."

Silas shrugged. She did have a point…but Niome wouldn't do something like that. She hated XANA. Right?

"Let's move," Silas said, standing up. "We don't have time to waist."

Aelita nodded and the two started running.

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"Odd," Ulrich said from beside the blond. "I think you should have a look at this."

Odd opened on eye and sat up. "Huh?" he asked.

"This is Aelita's book," Ulrich said. "Her….ehem….DIARY!"

Odd sprung up and grabbed the book from Ulrich. "This was started before we left Training Camp!" Odd wined.

"So?"

"So she could be dead now! Her and Jeremie!" Odd read the first page, then moved on to the second.

Ulrich grabbed the book from him. "This is Aelita's personal stuff!" he said.

"Fine! Let me just read the last entry, so I know the date."

Ulrich nodded and handed Odd the book.

Odd flipped through some pages, being careful not to look at anything too important. (or was he!)

Odd stopped on the last page. The date was February 27th, 2007.

"Got it! Wait, how long ago was that?" Odd asked.

"Um…I don't really know. Not even a month," Ulrich replied.

"Can I read it?" Odd asked.

Ulrich sighed. "Just this one, and then I'm taking it."

_Dear diary, _

_I did the best in sniper practice today. So guess what I got for a reward? Three extra laps around camp and an extra slice of chicken at dinner. Gross! The chicken tastes like sandy tofu. Don't ask. _

_But Em told me I was doing great and to keep it up. So far, me and a girl Ami are the best in our group. But I don't care, because I still have to eat dirt from Em every day. _

_I had a dream last night. It was about an island. I was there, with Odd. I think. He looked so much different. Ulrich and Yumi were holding hands, and two black haired kids (one boy and a beautiful girl) and Jeremie was beside me. We were all smiling. But before we could do anything, I woke up. _

_I miss everyone. Makes me wander about the days we had before this all started. And it makes me wander why I ran away with Jeremie. _

_The last thing I said to Odd was "Goodbye" then. It wasn't emotional or anything. But why do I miss him so much? I think I love him. I wish I could have told him, because now I'm not sure if I'll ever see him again. _

_Well, Yuna and Shauna want me to come and play cards with them. Ack. I can't do anything without them barging in! Not only that, but more tofu-and-sand is being served. Yum. After that, I may not write because we're heading out around the fourth on our way to another camp. We're getting closer to the main base, AKA the factory. See you soon! _

Odd gripped the book in his hands, stareing at the letters. _I think I love him. _

"She loves me," he said. "SHE LOVES ME!"

"Congrats, Odd," Ulrich said smiling.

"Now we need to find Yumi and we can go on a double date," Odd said, smirking.

Ulrich forced a laugh.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Odd screamed. "SHE JOINED THE ARMY!"

"Get up, maggots," the General hissed. "Come on."

"But we're not moving out until Saturday," said Odd, confused.

"We're getting warmer," the General said, grinning. "We're getting closer to the enemies main base. If we destroy that, we win the war!"

Ulrich and Odd looked at each other. It was more then that. But the reluctantly gathered their things and started marching.

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Ulrich kicked the sand with his feet, his heart racing. Was there really a chance to save Yumi? Every time he though of her, he felt his chest ach and his skin feel numb. There was a major possibility that she was already dead. XANA wouldn't keep her, would he?

Ulrich tried to remember the last time he had saw her. Although the memory pained him, it was the only recant one he had left.

**It's time for a flash back:**

_Yumi sniffed and wiped her eyes, swallowing hard. Ulrich was beside her, trying hard not to cry himself. They were standing in the pile of what used to be their school _

"_This is it then," Yumi said. "He won."_

_Ulrich pulled her into a hug. "It's not over," he said softly. _

"_Ulrich, it's all over," she sobbed. "We lost, admit it. We were pathetic!" _

"_No," Ulrich said, stroking her hair. "We're not."_

_Yumi pulled away and sighed. The passenger trucks, which were supposed to take them to safety, were already filling up fast. _

"_I feel like I can't just leave," Yumi said. "I can't just forget all we did."_

"_We can't, Yumi. We defiantly can't. But we can try."_

"_Hey! You kids over there! Get over here now!" a soldier shouted. _

_Yumi took Ulrich's hand and the two were about to walk until something stopped them. Literally. _

_Ulrich felt a hard metal bar crash into his stomach, sending him flying back. _

"_ULRICH!"_

_Shots and chaos evolved around him. He stood up, ignoring the aching in his stomach. "Yumi!" he called. _

"_ULRICH!" _

_Ulrich turned to see Yumi in the arms of a crab. Wait, arms? Krabs don't have arms. _

"_Yumi!" Ulrich shouted as the krab made it's way into the mist of dust that was slowly creeping onto the scene. A soldier grabbed Ulrich from behind, stopping him. _

"_NOO!" he screamed, but she was gone. _

**End**

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Niome opened her eyes to see darkness. She sat up, her heart pounding. Had she been caught?

"Niome, so glad you could join us," XANA said. Him along with seven other of XANA's were lined against the wall.

It was too dark, and Niome's head hurt. Judging by the looks of things, it wasn't going to be a good meeting with XANA this time.

"You failed to think of one thing when you tampered with that clone, Niome," XANA said. "You forgot we had injected tracking liquid in him."

"You're sick," Niome muttered.

"Hn," XANA said. "And I've also found his companion."

Niome's eyes widened. "Ae—Aelita…"

"Since there is no need for Yumi anymore, there is no need for you. Especially you." XANA leaned close to her and whispered "I'm going to have fun killing you."

Niome's hand was about to collide with his face but he caught her. "But sadly, I cannot kill you seeing I have much to prepare for the clone and Aelita's arrival. So, these seven servants of mine shall slice every limb off you and let you suffer. Or beat you, then cut your limbs off. Whichever comes first."

"BESTARD!" Niome shouted. "YOU SICK BASTARD!"

XANA chuckled. "It'll be nice you know your finally dead." Then he left, slamming the door behind him.

Niome stood up, rubbing her bandaged arms. This was going to be easy. She almost killed XANA, so she could surly almost kill these guys.

But of course, she had used a little something she shouldn't have…but that was besides the point.

_Why has the light done this? _Niome wandered. Could it be that in times when fighting darkness, it had to use darkness to defeat it…?

_Great. My head hurts and I have seven people trying to kill me. This sucks! _Niome thought angrily.

The seven people charged at her.

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YUP; that's the end of the twentieth chapter. Nothing to special. But some Yumi x Ulrich fluff which people always love.

Anyways, five reviews and I update (hopefully sooner, but im going to Germany for two whole weeks soon so I hope to get one more update in before then)

So adios for now!


	21. Fate of a nothing

**WARNING: FILLER CHAPTER AHEAD! **

**Sorry for the long wait guys. I've been really busy because I was _supposed _to go to Germany today but my dad hurt his back and so we couldn't go. But I'm going to mexico on Saterday for a week so its OK, I guess. Anyway, I had to update because I haven't in a wile so here ya go. **

**NOTE: SPELLING: BAD. I KNOW. COMPUTER: STUPID :'-( 5 REVIEWS: I UPDATE.**

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"I _still _don't get it."

Silas sighed for the thousandth time. He was practically jogging in place he had so much energy in him. But Aelita, on the other hand, was out of breath. Damn XANA for advancing him in strength.

"XANA thinks you're his daughter and wants you back in Lyoko forever," Silas said as fast as he could.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Aelita said, flinging the bottle cap to her canteen in the air. "XANA doesn't love anything…."

"He loves you. You're his daughter."

"I am not!"

Silas shook his head. "I really don't get girls," he said. "They're so troublesome."

"Ha, you're funny. Besides, when are we going to get there?"

"If you don't hurry up, we're not going to get there at all!" Silas grumbled.

Aelita smirked and stood up. "Silas, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah?"

"If XANA feels love, does that mean you do to? Because you always talk about Niome and call her beautiful, and it sounds like love."

Silas looked confused. "What is love?"

Aelita sighed. "It's like…I don't know how to explain it. Like, XANA loves me, right? And look what he's done to get me. He thinks I'm his daughter. He's risk anyone for me, except himself."

"I don't know," Silas admitted. He stared into Aelita's emotionless green eyes. He then looked away. "We better hurry before Niome gets caught."

Aelita was about to say something else, but Silas didn't want to hear it. She didn't know the reason why he didn't love. The reason was because very soon, he was going to die.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

The seven people charged at Niome, their swords drawing closer and closer. The violate-eyed girl shivered. The room was dark, and all she could see was there swords and their hoods through the dim moonlight.

"**Don't **underestimate me," she said, standing up. She looked around calmly. If they were going to kill her, wouldn't they turn on the lights? The darkness seemed to distracting. Something slid across her arm, creating a gash. Niome yelped in pain and staggered back.

Next thing she knew, she was grabbed by her hair roughly from behind. Then she was crushed against the wall.

"Stupid girl," one said. "You knew you couldn't defeat XANA by yourself."

Someone spit at her. "Whore."

Niome felt s tear come to her eye. For the months she had been alive, she had been hiding behind Yumi. She had just fought because she was angry. And she knew no one would kill her.

But she had been hiding.

"Look, she's crying," one of them hissed, laughing. "Stupid clone."

Niome, screwed her eyes shut and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small knife.

"Don't even try that," the man holding her down said. "You can't kill me with that!"

Niome opened her eyes and smirked, breathing in the hard sent of the wall. "So be it," she said.

It happened pretty fast. Niome twisted her arm around as fast as she could, slicing the man's wrist. He finally had let go of her hair when she jumped on top of him and stabbed him in the throat. "You're wrong," she said through gritted teeth and grabbed his sword, jabbing it in his back.

The six other men jumped back surprised to see their dead teammate on the floor.

"I'm sick of all of you," Niome said angrily. "I'm sick of you people treating me like dirt. I'm sick of humans, thinking they can do whatever. XANA was right. All of you are just a piece of shit in the real universe. Compared to people like me, you are _nothing._"

Not even shocked by her own words, Niome pulled out the sword that was inside the dead man on the floor. The blood on the sword seemed to make something stir inside of her, and she smiled. Her eyes slowly turned crimson red.

"I hate all of you," she said, slowly making her way towards the others. The six other men were frozen in fear, backing away from her.

"Survival of the fittest," she said. "You deserve to die." And she charged at them.

………………………………………………………………………………

Odd picked his calloused fingers, flinging the dead skin onto the desert ground. He chewed on the inside of his lip, trying to figure out what to do. Another attack had big placed on his small platoon, and the group was scattered. Luckily, they had found an abandon air base so they could have cover. Unluckily, there were much more machines then them.

"Sir!" someone shouted. Odd turned towards a boy not older then him with black hair.

_Did he just call me sir? _Odd wandered. Whatever.

"We're fighting not only machines, but humans," the boy said.

"Humans?" Odd asked, amazed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. They have the enemies symbol on their headbands."

Odd nodded. What was XANA trying to pull? He reloaded his AK-47 quickly and began shooting widely into the clouds of dust. Damn.

"You," he said, pointing to the boy with black hair. "Try and find as many people as you can. And ask around for a kid named Ulrich."

The boy nodded, and Odd turned back to the enemy. He still couldn't see a darn things. The stupid sand was in the way. Then he saw something, or someone, not to far away. He couldn't tell if it was his own teammate or what, but he aimed his gun and shot away. The figure turned towards him and charged. _I'm guessing that's not my teammate, _Odd thought. Before he could move, he was shoved to the ground. Hard. A stabbing pain throbbed in his shoulder and he cried out in pain.

"I…shot…you!" he choked, trying to shove the person off him. He then looked into reddish eyes of a boy not much older then him. Odd's eyes widened in shock.

"He's right," the boy said he coughed some blood and turned his head and spat some. "You are weak."

Odd just stared as the boy rolled off of him. Odd sat up, pain flaring up in his shoulder. He then turned to the boy, who had bullet holes all over his chest and stomach. Yet he had still been able charge at Odd? Something wasn't right.

The boy was perfectly still. _He's dead, _Odd thought. He had killed him. The blond grasped the knife with both hand and yelled as he pulled it out from inside of him.

Panting hard, blood oozed from the hole in his shoulder. He glanced back at the boy. He had dark black hair that fell in his eyes, and the headband with XANA's symbol on it seemed to loose it's shine. Odd slowly took off the headband and studied it. He then took the knife tha was drenched in his own blood and scraped a mark through the symbol.

"I won't go back on my word XANA," he said, wiping some blood from his mouth. He tied the headband around his leg. "I'll kill you, if it's the last thing I do." He then layed his head down on the sand, sighing. He was so…tired…

He passed out.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"Hurry up!" Silas shouted for the seventieth million time. He drummed his fingers on his leg as a panting Aelita caught up to him.

"Do…we…have…to…move…so…fast," she said between pants.

"Stop complaining! We're almost there," Silas said. He grabbed hand and the two began running once more.

"It's a sandstorm!" Aelita complained.

"Shh!" Silas shouted. If this girl didn't shut up, he would have to knock her out and carry her. Sure that sounded bad, but he had to get her too the castle before they were caught. She wouldn't be tortured, but he sure as hell would.

But the damn sand wasn't making it any easier. Suddenly, Silas slammed into something hard, Aelita fallowing right behind him.

"What was—" a deep voice said, but soon stopped. _Shit, _Silas thought.

"It's the…the…The Key…" the voice said.

"Get the kid!" another shouted, and everyone charged at poor Aelita and Silas. Thinking quickly, Silas pulled out a knife and grabbed Aelita from behind him and put her in a hed lock and made the knife touch her neck.

"S—Silas?" Aelita asked, shaking beneath his arms.

"If you move any closer, I'll kill her," Silas said darkly. He set the knife in his other hand and pulled down the sleeve of his armor, revealing a strange tattoo.

"Shit, he's A-rank," someone said.

"Leave them alone. He can get the reward," some other man mumbled.

Silas grabbed Aelita's hand and started running again.

"Silas," Aelita asked from behind "What happened back there?"

"XANA put a price on your head. Whoever returned you, would get freedom."

"Why were they all so afraid of you?"

_So full of questions, _Silas thought, annoyed. "Because I'm an A-rank clone. They're all just C ranks or D ranks."

Aelita remained silent. "Silas, why are you helping me?"

"What do you mean? Because—"

Aelita interrupted him. "Aren't clones bound to their hosts? If so, if we kill XANA, then won't you die as well?"

Silas stopped in his tracks and turned to Aelita. He wasn't sure what to think. What she said was true. If XANA died, he would die as well.

"Because, you're life matters more in the eyes of this world then mine," he said slowly. It was also true. No one new a boy—scratch that, clone—named Silas existed. His name wasn't even real. Niome had given it to him before he parted on his mission to find Aelita. Niome had told him she had made up her own name, too. And he deserved one.

_I wish I was real…_Silas thought. But he wasn't. he was just as real as his other fellow clones. He was made from XANA. A simple image. And it hurt.

Was it hurt? Silas didn't have a real heart to have emotions. His was kind of fake, like plastic or something. A replacement for the real thing.

"Silas?" Aelita asked.

"Let's move," he said before the conversation could grow any further.

………………………………………………………………………………

**Is Silas doomed to die in the end? And is Niome too? O.O Uh oh, I've said to much. Anyway, please review. it will make me feel better after not getting to go to Germany :-( **

**Ja ne for now! (means something like goodbye in Japanese) **


	22. Betrayal

**Yeah, not as much reviews –sniff- oh well. Sorry for typos and mistakes, my pc sucks ass. So anyways, enjoy! **

**Notes: Jeremie makes his first appearance ever:-)**

…………………………………………………

**_Chapter 22 _**

_Betrayal _

_Tap tap tap. _

Odd's ice blue eyes flung open in shock. His ears seemed to ring, and his heart pounded violently in his chest. He glanced around the room. Pipes snaked around the rusted walls and the ceiling. Odd looked puzzled for a moment, then tried to sit up. That sure wasn't a good idea. Pain jolted up Odd's shoulder and he cried out in pain, sitting back down.

"You idiot!" someone shouted from the corner of the room. "Don't get up."

The voice seemed so familiar. It wasn't anyone from his platoon, he could tell. It sounded like someone back from Kadic. But who could it be?

Odd lifted his head up and his eyes widened. "W—W—William?"

The black haired boy gave a laugh. "I'm not a wuss. There was no way I was going to sit this one out," he said.

"This one?"

"This _war._"

Odd still couldn't believe it. William, of all people, had saved his life.

"Odd Della-Robbia," a man said, suddenly walking in. "I see you've met William."

"Yeah, I knew him before," Odd said. He would have said something snotty, but this war seemed to change everything. William didn't seem like a jerk anymore. He seemed like a comrade.

"William is out best Medical chief," the man said. "And by the way, I'm Lieutenant Lockheart, head of platoon Seven. Seems you and a few others got separated from your platoon."

"We were in battle. They took us by supri—" Odd began.

"Talking isn't good for the wound," William interrupted, standing up. He brushed himself off and walked over towards Odd. "He should rest."

Lieutenant Lockheart nodded. "I'll speak with you when you're well," he said before turning out the door on his heal.

"I feel fine," Odd protested.

"Did you honestly want to talk to him?" William asked dully.

Odd thought about it. "No," he admitted. "When should I be able to fight?"

William shrugged. "If you play by the rules, a few weeks. If you break them, a few days."

Odd's eyes widened. "Wait—what?"

"Listen, I hear Aelita was taken. Her platoon stopped by a few days ago. Back at school, you had the sweets for her and I assumed you wanted her back."

"WHAT!" Odd yelled. "She was taken? WHERE?"

William shrugged calmly, not affected by Odd's outburst. "I think at the main base. You know that old factory by the river? Well that's it."

"Yeah, I know," Odd said.

William nodded. "So anyway, I'll get you your things back and you can leave in three days. Clear?"

"What about Ulrich?" Odd asked.

"He's waiting for you. I should go get him now, unless you want to rest."

"I think I'll rest for a wile, William. Thanks for, you know, saving me."

"HA! You weren't even the worst of them."

Odd smiled. William was a pretty cool guy, when he wasn't around Yumi.

"William, where am I?" he asked.

"URB."

"URB?"

"Underground Railroad Base,"

William smirked and pushed back his black hair that stuck to his forehead. "William!" someone screamed desperately outside of the doorway.

"Got to go," William said dully. "Duty calls. Good luck with saving your girlfriend."

Odd smiled and nodded. "William, I take back what I said about you. You're really…nice…"

William smirked. "Well, this war has changed a lot of us. Some for the best. See ya round, kid." He started walking out the door.

Odd leaned back onto his pillow. _Aelita…I promise I'll come save you. I'll get you princess. I promise. _

…………………………………………………………………

Jeremie Belpois pushed back his blond hair with one hand and let the other one dance across the keyboard, typing furiously. His eyes narrowed. "Code Denied," he said. He banged his fist on the wall. "DAMMIT!"

"Calm down, son," an officer said.

Jeremie shook his head in defeat. A transition from another computer had been sent a few days ago with a locked file attached to it. Jeremie knew this had to be important, because it was from another computer.

Jeremie sighed. "Damn…" he muttered. He had been working on this thing for hours, and still nothing.

_There must be something I'm not seeing, _he thought. _Something I'm not getting. No one would send a locked file without giving me the code. Unless…_He stopped. _Unless I already know the code…_

This file was sent by someone who knew about XANA. The access code was…

CODE LYOKO.

Jeremie swallowed as he typed _Lyoko _into the code box. He hadn't thought about that. But who would be sending something like this to him? Unless it was XANA himself. Jeremie hit the submit button.

ACCESS CODE EXEPTED.

A new window opened, showing a simple e-mail. _All of that for this? _Jeremie thought as he read the e-mail.

_Jeremie, _

_You probably don't know who I am. Not a lot of people do. I guess I should start from the beginning then._

_My name is Niome, and I am Yumi's clone. I think she was 'dehumanized', meaning she was virtualized forever in the world called Lyoko. XANA found better use for her, and she is now the most powerful weapon he has. She doesn't remember anything about you. The reason I know about you and the rest of your group is because I took Yumi's memories, and her 'light' as you would call it._

_Enough of that. Listen, you have to get the XANA's castle. It was that old factory by the river bank. I'll be waiting for you. I have violate eyes, long black hair, and my arms and legs and wrapped in cloth. Trust me, you won't miss me at all. _

_I'll explain all about XANA and his plans when you arrive. _

Jeremie stood up and darted out of the computer room. He hurriedly grabbed his bags and stuffed some clothes in them.

"Jeremie?" his officer asked, fallowing him down the hall. "Are you alright?"

"I'm going on a mission," Jeremie said, brushing by. "And I don't know if I'm going to be coming back."

………………………………………………………………………

Aelita sighed as she ran her fingers through her short greasy hair. She shifted her wait on her foot. "Any longer?"

"Stop wining," Silas hissed as he yanked the controls. Both were jammed inside of an abandoned tank, and poor Silas was doing his best to make it work. But it was so darn _slow._

"You complained to much," Silas grumbled. "Besides, we're there."

"We're _what_?"

"We're **there!** Isn't that what you wanted?"

Aelita slowly nodded and gulped. This was it. She would finally see XANA's lair. The place where everything had first happened. She sighed. The day he had taken over, the day he had won seemed to flash through her mind. And she didn't like it one bit.

………………………**f…l…a…s…h…b…a…c…k……………………………………**

"Aelita…"

Aelita didn't take her stare from the pile of ruble she was staring at to even give the person a glance. She knew full well it was Odd, but she didn't care.

"Aelita, I'm so sorry…"

"It doesn't matter," Aelita said coldly. "I should have known."

Before her laid her home. Her old home, that was. Now it wasn't really a house anymore, on account it was in a thousand pieces.

"Aelita, it's OK to cry. I know how it is to lose something close to you."

"You don't know anything!" Aelita stormed. "You're just a stupid clown! You dumbass! You can't tell me you know how I feel. I lost my mom, my dad, my home, my _life. _You're just so…STUPID!"

Odd didn't say anything. He felt hurt. Aelita knew it, but who cared.

Suddenly, a loud crash interrupted them. A fresh mist of smoke dusted down on the two, making it hard to see.

"Odd!" Aelita cried. "Where are you?" the loud sound of metal groaning and lazers filled the air. Aelita coughed.

Someone grabbed her arm. "ODD!" she shouted.

"Aelita! It's Jeremie!"

"Jeremie! We have to find Odd and Yumi and Ulrich!"

"No time! Aelita we have the chopper waiting for us! we have to go."

"Not without them—"

"Aelita, we have to go."

Aelita stared into Jeremie's bright blue eyes. They looked darker, as if full of anger. "Their job is to protect you."

Aelita cringed a bit. "Jeremie I…I don't know…"

Jeremie tugged her to the helicopter that was waiting for them.

"But—!" she began to protest, but stopped immediately. What difference did it make?

Another loud bang.

"Aelita!" Jeremie pleaded.

Aelita turned her head to were Odd had been. "I'm coming," she said and let herself be dragged into the helicopter.

……………………………**e…n…d……………………………………..**

"Aelita," Silas said, breaking the girl from her trans. Aelita looked up to see Silas right above her, holding out his hand. "We're here."

Aelita took his hand and he helped her out of the tank. She hopped off and dusted herself off, looking into the distance.

"Silas, I don't see it."

"Turn around smart one!"

Aelita rolled her eyes and turned around. But what she saw nearly made her fall over.

XANA's castle loomed just fifty feet away. It was all black, huge, and had giant steal gates. Aelita stared in aw.

"Welcome," Silas said. "To XANA's castle."

…………………………………………………

Everything about the castle was huge. Silas was practically dragging Aelita down the halls because she was stopping to stare at every picture of XANA's symbol.

"We have to hurry," Silas said. He looked really uncomfortable, and Aelita could tell,

"Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"N—no. Aelita, trust me. Just trust me, OK."

"I do Silas! With my life!"

Silas stiffened and led her down another hall.

"One of these doors should be XANA's main place."

"But Silas, aren't we supposed to—"

"Hey!" a deep, dark voice interrupted Aelita. The two turned to see two men with black hair and dark capes.

Silas froze. He knew who it was.

"Silas," the voice said. "Good work."

Aelita turned from the two men to Silas. "Silas, what's going on?"

Silas looked away. "She's yours."

"Silas!" Aelita screamed, backing away into another clone. "Silas how could you—"

A gloved hand covered her mouth so she could speak no more.

Silas studied the floor. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He had betrayed Aelita, and worst of all, Niome.

But he had done it for her.

"Were is she?" he demanded.

"Niome? Oh, she's fine. She's in her room," the other replied. Something in his eye made Silas feel uneasy for a moment, but nodded.

"Ahh, Aelita. Long time no see."

Aelita froze along with everyone else, all eyes turning towards the strange voice. Aelita's eyes widened in fear, but she didn't dare move.

"Well, Silas, you and Niome are free," XANA said, not even looking at him. "She's in her room."

Silas nodded.

"Good work, boy. Not even Yumi could get her back."

Silas looked up in surprise. XANA hadn't called him _clone. _But _boy? _Wow.

"Silas!" Aelita shouted, squirming from the man's grip. "Please! Don't do this!"

Silas bit his lip and didn't reply.

XANA gave a hearty laugh that filled the halls. "Aelita darling, some words of advice. **Never. Trust. A Clone**."

Silas made his way down the hall, trying to forget about XANA. To forget about who he was betraying.

As of this moment, he was somebody. He was _real. _He was looked on highly in the eyes of someone great. He was like a human for once. He wasn't just the same as everyone else. He was _somebody. _

And being a somebody right now sucked ass.


	23. XANA's war

**Listen, I know. I KNOW I haven't updated in TWO months**

**THE DAMN HORRER! TWO FORKING MONTHS!**

**D:**

**God, that's like an eternity.**

**Let me explain: **

**This year has sucked. SUCKED. I'm sucking at school and the center of drama for EVERYTHING. I've been hated, ignored, and practically shunned. I have my few friends that stick by me, thank god. **

**The first part sucks, middle is OK and same with the end. The beginning was written like a month ago and I just finished the rest. Don't hate me please.**

………………………………………………………………

_A little more…_

Aelita twisted the bobby pin into the lock of the door as hard as she could. "Come on," she cooed. "Come on, you can do it."

Sure it felt kind of weird to be talking to a bobby pin, but oh well.

_Click._

Aelita gasped in surprise. _It worked! It work!_

WAM!

Something hard slammed into her nose, sending her flying back. She rubbed her nose, opening one eye to see XANA's dark figure looming above her.

"Aelita, may I ask what you where doing…?" XANA asked, sounding confused.

Aelita glared. "Nothing that concerns you."

XANA just shook his head. "Well Aelita, I'm here to explain things to you. OK?"

"…."

Hw ignored her silence. "Basically, I am Franz Hopper."

Aelita looked up. "That's impossible, stupid" she said, pouting. "My father wasn't evil."

"When your father stumbled into the super computer, something went wrong and he was converted into digital material and spread throughout the system. Somehow, we both got fused together. I got the dominant side, and he was almost a fragment in my mind."

Aelita stared at him, silently begging for more information on her father.

"But some things of him I couldn't get rid of," XANA continued. "His emotions. Emotions for you, and your mother…" He paused, not looking at Aelita. "I can't kill you because if I did, I would probably kill myself."

Aelita's eyes widened. She wasn't sure who she was speaking too, her father or XANA.

"So, that's why I created the sixth sector. It's more complex then any of the other sectors. It's almost real. I want you to live there so that way I can live my life without feeling regret."

"I don't want to live there!" Aelita protested. "XANA, why can't you just let the world go! You've tortured it enough!"

XANA smirked beneath his hood. "Really?" he said. "I don't think so. I've read everything you've done. Wars, murder, everything. This war I started is like all the others, but 10 times worse. And you deserve it all."

Aelita stared at him, a slight tear falling down her face. "Daddy…" she whispered as more came. "What happened to you?"

…………………………………………………………………………

Before XANA had gone to Aelita's room, he leaned against the door of the old factory. "Yumi, I'm proud."

Yumi straitened her headband out, smiling. "Really master?"

"Yes, I am."

The geisha grinned again. "I'll kick those humans asses XANA. Just for you! I promise, you're symbol will be the one everyone worships."

XANA nodded. "Go on Yumi, lead my army. Lead them all to victory."

Yumi nodded. "Yes master," she said. A krab passing by knelt down to her, and she jumped on. The krab carried her outside into the sea of monsters and clones.

The last battle had finally begun.

………………………………………………………………

"OH. MY. GOD."

Odd stared at all the soldiers around him, trying to count. "There has to be more then a thousand here!"

"Woah," Ulrich agreed. "Jesus, there's like tons of them!"

The two were standing in an anormous blob of soldiers crowded together where prepareing for the fate of the world. In the distance, XANA's castle loomed in the shadows.

Odd nodded.

"Didn't you hear?" a passing by soldier asked. "this is it. The last battle."

"What?!" Odd asked.

The boy nodded. "We think, at least. This is pretty much the last of our army, for the entire world."

XANA had to be destroyed before the entire human race was perished. Odd noticed a small speck in the distance. "Is that his fortress?"

"I heard it's like a castle," the boy replied.

"Hn," Ulrich said. "Come on, Odd."

"I hope to see you during the fight," the boy called after the two Lyoko warriors. "You both seam pretty tough."

"You too," Odd called back, and him and Ulrich where off.

………………………………………………………………

"Niome!" Silas called. _That son of a bitch, _he thought angrily.

Bursting through another door, he ignored the puzzled cold stares of XANA's servants.

"Hey!" a man protested, springing up from his bed. "What do you think you're doing, clone?"

"Shut up," Silas hissed. "Where'd he put Niome?"

"Who?"

"The violet-eyed black haired girl that he hates so much!"

The man thought for a second. "She killed my friend," he said coldly. "Why should I tell?"

"Because if you don't, I'll kill you."

The man could tell from the deathly tone in the clone's voice that he wasn't kidding. "She was executed."

"W—what?"

"Yeah," the man said. He leaned back against the bed, smirking. "You didn't know?"

Silas didn't answer.

_She's dead, she's dead…_ he thought.

He sounded retarded.

In his mind, there was supposed to be a voice that said she was dead. Because she was _supposed _to be dead.

But Niome was just…Niome. She defiantly wasn't going to die now. She had escaped most of XANA's tricks, dodging his attempts for him to kill her. There was no way she was going to let this one get her. Not in a million years.

…………………………………………………………………

_**Blood.**_

She grabbed the knife and jammed it into another persons heart until she knew it has stopped. Her red eyes showed no emotion, no regret, no sorrow. She twisted the knife out, and the lifeless body flew to the floor limply.

_**Niome…**_

She thrust the knife onto the ground, blood dripping from her fingers.

_**What happened to you, Niome?**_

The question turned over and over in her mine. She closed her eyes, letting out a breath.

_**Why are you doing this?**_

"I have no choice."

**_You do have a choice. It's a test, a big test_**.

"…."

_**And….you…failed…**_

"Shut up!"

Niome banged her fist onto the stone brick walls of the dungeon, her scream echoing throughout the halls. She was breathless from her fighting, and tears burned her eyes. She quietly knelt down on the floor, curling into a ball.

"Stop, stop, stop…" she said. "Please…"

"Niome!"

Her head shot up. "Wa?" She turned her head to see Silas standing at the door. Standing up quickly, she was about to speak but he cut her off.

"Niome, what happened to you?!" He shouted, stepping over a corps. "Are you—"

"Silas…I…I killed them. All of them. I made them scream like children. I showed _nothing _to them…no mercy, not anything. I'm just as bad as XANA… he was right…"

"No, he's not!" Silas said, glaring. "Don't be a retard and think that. You're good. These people were trying to kill you!"

Before anyone else could say anything, a loud BANG shook the halls. The clones stumbled over, Silas landing on a corps wile Niome slammed against the wall.

"Niome!" Silas yelled, but the bangs swallowed his voice.

Niome watched him on the ground, trying to get up. She smashed her body against the wall, trying not to fall. She felt blood trickle down her ears. It was so…loud…

She was deaf now. She couldn't hear a darn thing. Silas was shouting, shouting hard. His mouth moved, his eyes wide and full of panic.

Niome just watched. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. The banging continued, she could tell, from the bombs. The war had finally come to an end. It was the last battle of Xana's War.

Then it stopped.

Silas fell back to the floor, unconscious. Niome stood there, leaning against the wall. Her eyes were wide, her breathing hard.

Slowly, the sound returned to her ears. But there was nothing to hear. Blood oozed from her ear, and she heaved a large sigh. Steadily balancing herself by using the support of the wall, she stepped over the bodies and the sleeping Silas and out the door. She made her way down the hall, and opened the door.

The grayness of the afternoon slammed into her face hard, blinding her eyes. Squinting a bit, she stepped off of the concrete and onto a powdery ground.

Glancing down, Niome saw grey dust covering everything. She looked up, and saw it falling.

Ashes…

It fell like snow, covering the land like a blanket. It was so quiet, and Niome was sure she wasn't deaf like before. Nothing moved, no one spoke. Not even a whisper.

Niome took another step, the ash burning at her toes. Another, and another. Ashes specked her black hair and stuck to her wounds.

"Niome?" a sleepy voice asked from the door way.

Niome didn't answer. She knew it was Silas.

"What is it?" he asked, stepping out to examine the world himself.

"Ashes," she replied, stretching out her hand. One landed in her palm. "From the bombs."

"The rumors are true," Silas said, studying the sky. "It's almost over."

"Yes," she answered quietly.

They stood like that for a moment, Silas behind her. She could feel him getting closer.

"Clones can't feel emotion," he said. "Why do I feel something when I'm around you?"

"I…I don't know…" Niome turned to him, and slowly slipped her arms around him. "We'll never know. When this is done, we will be gone."

Silas slowly hugged her back. "Yes, I know."

……………………………………………..

"ULRICH!"

Ulrich opened his eyes, just in time to see a hand collide with his face.

"OW! What the fuck was that for?!"

His vision of the two blond boy's before him fused into one. "Odd?"

"Tsk, tsk! You hear ONE loud noise and you go unconscious!"

"I can hardly hear what you're saying!?"

Ulrich shook his head. "Where are we?" he asked, examining the walls.

"_We _are in XANA's castle!" Odd said proudly. "I managed to slip through an entrance with you on my back. Aren't I smart?"

"Shut up before you get us killed. Now were do we have to go? And why is it so dark?"

"Shhh," Odd hissed. "Stop being so loud! We're in an old closet" He covered Ulrich's mouth with his hand. "Let me tell you, it looks a tad different from when we were here last…"

"Mmmphmmmmm?!"

Odd slowly opened the door and helped Ulrich up, leading him out.

"Holy—"

Someone appeared before them.

Suddenly, it was as if Ulrich's world had come crashing down. He felt his heart being ripped out, his stomach being crushed, his brain stop functioning. All of it had come down to the one person standing before him.

"…Yumi."

……………………………………………………………………

**Uhm;; yeah **

**Sucks,, I know. Sorry for the ickyness.**

**Two more chapters until im done**

**THANK GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**But yet**

**:'(**

**Review**

**It will make my shitty life be better**

**:D **


	24. Good bye Earth

**I KNOW! It's been forever. Life hasn't been getting any better. It's been getting so much worse.**

**Sorry for spelling errors, I don't wanna hear it. **

**I'm sick, I can hardly breath, i'm home alone, and my head kills.**

**I just wanna curl and and go into a coma :/**

**ANYWAY;;;; thanks for your reviews. They helped :) **

**Merry Christmas people! Or Honnika ( I have NO IDEA how you spell it)**

**I did this up in a few days, meaning I've been ignoring my computer for a month. xD**

**PLEASE REVIEW.**

**Makes me feel SO MUCH better.**

**Like alota people view my story and don't review :/**

**Don't be harsh.**

……………………………………………………………

"Wake up, bum!"

Odd opened his eyes a crack to see violate orbs staring back.

"What the fuck?!" He shouted. Moving quickly he shoved the figure away hard and backed up, his head aching.

"HEY!" The voice of an angry girl. "Watch your hands boy! I'll kick your ass!"

Odd's vision cleared and he noticed a black-haired girl with cuts all over her body. She was in a black Chineis styled dress and wore no shoes.

"N…no way…Niome?"

"Good job, you dope! Why in God's name didn't you listen to me?!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "We wouldn't be in this mess if you took my advice months ago!"

"Hey!" Odd protested, his headache coming back.

"You shake him harder, your going to kill him!" A voice protested.

"Dork," Niome scoffed as she shoved him backwards. Odd rubbed his head wile his eyes scanned over the two figures before him. Both had dark hair, and had XANA's headband on the front.

"What happened? We're Ulrich?" He demanded, taking a few steps back. "What the hell did you do to him?!"

Niome rolled her eyes. "We're on your side, dumbass. XANA's puppet knocked You out and the brown head kid decided to fight her."

"Puppet? What?"

"Yumi."

"Oh…" Odd sighed.

"I'm Niome, as you know, and meet Silas. We're the two people who are going to kick XANA's ass for you."

"What? I am too!"

"In your dreams you are, hun. Leave it to us. You have to get Aelita and stop her form going to Lyoko. My senses tell me she may listen to whatever lies XANA's feeding her."

"She would never—!"

"Not true," Silas interrupted. "During my travels with Aelita, she told me a lot about her father and how she would do _anything _to see him again. Does she go back on her word?"

"Not really," Odd admitted, running a hand through his greasy hair. "Do you have any idea where she is?"

"Not a clue. You _had _to choose the farthest entrance you could to get into the castle, so we're far from the older section which happens to be where we need to go. You friend, James or whatever, is already on his way over."

"Jeremy?"

"That's it. The nerd with glasses."

Odd's eyes widened. "Wait…he's here? Right now?"

"Enough," Silas interrupted, annoyed. "Can we move on? I'd like to get this over with. I'm tired."

Niome nodded. "Let's move. We don't have much time."

Odd stood up.

……………………………………………………………

"Aelita, I _promise _you that you will see him again."

Aelita shook her head. "Stop."

XANA smirked. "Come on, you know you want to see him again. Anything is possible Aelita. Lyoko is the key to another world. I can create anything. I can get your father out of me and put him into Lyoko. I swear."

"…."

"Aelita…"

_He's a liar. You know he's lying. Come on Aelita, tell him to shove off. He can't force you into that damn scanner. That's right. You're so much better then this. _

And yet…

_I wanted to see my dad for so long…_

But?

_Are you willing to betray the ones you love for the ones you have loved?_

….

_Mend your shattered life…?_

Aelita shook her head and held it in her hands. "Leave me alone XANA."

"You have to choose now Aelita. See your father, or die with the rest of this world."

"I—"

……………………………………………………………………

Ulrich collapsed to the ground out of breath. Panting hard, his hand scrambled for his sword and tried to pick himself up again.

"Come on. I don't have all day."

Turning slightly, Ulrich glared at his opponent, Yumi. "You know, XANA trained you how to be a real big pain."

"So? At least I'm not bitching about it."

Yumi lunged herself towards him and their swords once again clanged together.

Ulrich pushed himself as hard as he could, but she still didn't even flinch. Yumi smirked.

"Too weak, Ulrich Dear?"

Ulrich grimaced. How annoying. The girl he loved was stronger.

"Bring it Ishyama, you haven't seen anything!"

"I don't know who the hell Ishyama is, but your asking for the wrong thing!"

She swung her knife again Ulrich quickly blocked it.

"Too the death," she said.

For a second everything stood still. Ulrich stared into Yumi's dark brown orbs, drowning in them. Everything they had done together, everything he had said, did, wanted, felt, known, learned, dreamed, wished…everything had come before him. He could read her emotions like an open book. She was scared. She was pissed. She was strong. She yearned for her life. She was insecure.

And he loved her. So much it hurt.

But she was now the enemy. The girl he knew was gone. She was a threat, a major, threat. She could kill him. She could kill anyone. And if she wanted to, even XANA.

He would have to make a choice.

"To the death," he replied back, startling Yumi a bit. She quickly regained her pose and glared at him.

The two lunged at each other.

……………………………………………………………………

"Alright, so, if that kid was _really _smarter then he seemed, he would have shut down Lyoko by now. Too bad he doesn't look that physically built."

Niome shrugged after telling the two boys, Silas and Odd that, and she tossed down a knife she was sharpening. "I should have given him a piggy-back-ride the entire way."

"Don't under estimate Jeremie. He can be strong!" Odd protested.

"Ignore her," Silas said. "It's just PMS. She gets all bitchy sometimes."

"HEY!" Niome snapped. "I DO NOT! NOW GET OFF YOUR DAMN ASS AND LETS MOVE!"

The two boys were shushed and they quickly fallowed Niome, who had already started off ahead.

"Its not my place to ask," Odd said to Silas. "But why is Niome all….scared…and wrapped in cloth?"

Silas sighed and glanced at Niome, who was yards ahead. "She doesn't like to say."

"I wont say anything."

"It's personal."

Odd stared. "Come on, it cane be that bad—"

"She tried to kill herself, Odd."

The blond stopped. "What?"

XANA's humble clone nodded. "She slit her own wrists. If she died, Yumi would also. Somehow, during the scanning for the clone went wrong. Niome ended up taking what made Yumi real—her emotions and her memories. So they were linked together in a way, you might say."

"Uh-huh," Odd said, leaning closer. "Go on, I'm listening."

"So If Niome died, in a way, she'd be doing us all a favor. Yumi is in fact, XANA's biggest helper. It was all thanks to her for assassinating head leaders and military officers, allowing XANA's army to move forward."

"I get it," Odd said, glancing up at Niome. "So…XANA saved her?"

Silas nodded, and frowned. "He meant to kill her after Aelita was captured, but, Niome isn't the easiest thing to take down. She's tough."

"I can see that."

The two watched Niome in silence.

"Are you going to keep gossiping or can we move?" Niome snapped, not even bothering to turn around.

"Gossiping? We weren't gossiping!" Odd said.

"Oh, shut up."

Odd glared but didn't reply to her rude remark. Instead, he noticed a slight tapping noise behind him. Turning slightly, he saw a block just behind.

"Erm…how to put this…but…"

A wishing sound glided past his ear and next thing the block was on the ground, it's electrical pulses buzzing widely.

Odd and Silas both turned to Niome, who already had her back turned and was walking away.

"I'm **_not _**in the mood to play with his stupid toys," she hissed back. "Now hurry the hell up. I want to get this over with."

……………………………………………………………………

_**Dear Diary,**_

**_OK so this isn't REALLY my diary. It's a wadded up napkin I found on the floor of my chamber. I lost it somewhere in my travels. I'm not going to go through the whole story thing, such as 'Hi! My name is Aelita Stones! I like movies and the color pink! My dad was fused with an evil super computer who wants to destroy the world wile placing me into a virtual world called Lyoko!'_**

_**Let's just skip that.**_

**_Erm, OK. I don't know what to do. My emotions are going wild. I vowed I would do anything to see my father again, but then I can't just leave Earth. Especially Odd. It's been months, but I'm sure deep down I love him. There is always Jeremie, but I love him as a best friend. As for Yumi, there isn't any hope of her returning to normal. And Ulrich, I don't even know if he's alive. My old world is shattered._**

_**Crap. I think I'm going emo. **_

_**Now it comes down to this. If I leave, Earth will end. But my old life will be back…**_

_**I don't know. If I find another napkin I'll write more later. This one's going to rip.**_

Aelita set her pencil down, studying the napkin carefully. This could be her last words. If Odd or any of the others found this, they would want something memorable that they could keep. At least until the world blew up, that is.

"I've got to choose," Aelita said, standing up and pacing to the window. In the distance, she could hear some gun shots and explosions. "After this battle ends, I could be in Lyoko."

Thoughts ran through her head and she ran her hand through her short pink hair.

A soft knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

"Aelita? Are you coming?"

It all came down to this.

XANA opened the door all the way, reveling his usual black coat. "It's now or never," he said.

Aelita didn't say anything, but moved closer to him. She could almost feel her father within XANA, trying to reach out. It made her want to hug him. For a second, she felt herself almost pulled towards him.

"D—daddy?" she whispered.

"What was that?" XANA asked impatiently.

"N—nothing. Let's go before I regret this." She slowly made her way out the door.

"But you won't, darling."

Aelita froze. XANA's voice had changed, and it brought back a few haunting memories.

"Hurry," XANA instructed, clearing his throat. "We don't have much time."

Aelita watched him step in front of her. Now she knew her father was inside of him.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Jeremie's blue sneakers tapped on the ground as he panted hard, pushing all of his strength into running.

"You should have tried at gym," he mumbled to himself as he stopped once more to catch his breath.

A slight noise made him jump. Then he remembered Niome was supposed to meet him close to here with Odd Ulrich and Silas.

"Hey, you almost beat me," he said, slightly turning around.

Three blocks stood behind him.

"Erm…shit…"

Jeremie immediately started running again.

"JEREMIE!" someone shouted. The blond slammed into something soft, suddenly realizing it was a person.

"Boy, get your face outa my boobs," A cold voice hissed.

"N—Niome!" Jeremie stated, confused. He stumbled back, a laser shooting, just missing his head.

"Get behind me before you fry!" Niome shouted. Just behind her, Odd and Silas stood there giving Jeremie the listen-to-her-or-die look.

"ODD!" Jeremie shouted and darted behind Niome.

"Jer! Thought I'd never see you again!"

"Same!" Jeremie exclaimed.

"Come one!" Niome shouted. "Come on Jeremie, the control room isn't too far. But we could be too late."

Jeremie nodded and the four started off, blowing by the metal carcasses of the blocks.

Finally, Niome was sliding open the doors of the main control room.

"Luckily for us, XANA's got his stupid guards off fighting the dumb battle," Silas said, stepping in the room.

Jeremie darted over to the main computer source and scanned the buttons and slides. "I don't know what we can do. I don't know if Aelita is in Lyoko or not."

Niome nodded. "Come on you two, let's get up to that damn supercomputer."

Silas and Odd both nodded.

"Jeremie, do you think you can handle things here?" Silas asked, turning towards the blond.

Jeremie nodded.

"We've got to get this thing down soon. I'll get over the intercom and tell you if it's OK to shut it down."

The four nodded and departed.

……………………………………………………

"_**Are you ready?"**_

Aelita stood before a scanner. Her last breath on earth was about to happen. Her last thoughts, words, smells, whatever.

She was never returning. 

Breathing hard, she nodded. "Just remember our promise."

XANA nodded, his back facing Aelita. "Yes. Don't hurt Silas, Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, and Silas's lover or whatever. I've already alarmed the guards."

Aelita nodded, narrowing her eyes. "I trust you."

"The process is about to start, so I suggest you get in."

The pink haired girl nodded and stepped into the scanner.

_**Goodbye, world. Goodbye, people.**_

…_**.Goodbye, Odd.**_

………………………………………………………………………………………

**YUPS.**

**That's it. **

**CHANGE OF PLANS.**

**I think two more chapters.**

**GAH;; im dragging it on xO **


	25. Where they go

**--;**

**This year: voted worse year ever .-.**

**Everything pretty much sucks.**

**I guess you can say things have gotten better**

**But then of course they plummet down to the bottom **

**The SECOND they get OK**

**Whatever**

**Grrr.**

**REVIEW.**

**I mean lord, you read the damn story, the BEST thing you could do is at least leave a review. **

**Its not hard.**

'**update soon.'**

**Copy and paste it for all I care Dx**

**Sorry for suckyness.**

**I'm busy and need a new spell check .. **

………………………………

"Shit," Niome said, her hands gliding across the keyboard of the super computer. "We're too late. Aelita's already in."

Odd sighed and scowled. "She's too naive. She believes anything." He leaned against the back of Niome's chair.

"Jeremie, get up here. We're to late to get Aelita back, she's in Lyoko," Niome spoke over the intercom. "I know nothing about this damn thing 'sept I was born from it."

"So was I," Silas scoffed.

"I _know,_" Niome replied, annoyed.

The elevator doors opened and Jeremie walked to the computer, shooing Niome away.

"Finally someone else does something," The black haired clone said, cracking her knuckles.

"Hey, you know what, I've done more then you!" Silas protested.

"Oh _shut up!_ You were just born like a month ago! I've been fighting XANA forever!"

"I did more then you in one month! Who got Aelita?!"

"And turned her in! Traitor!"

"May I remind you it was because I had to save **_your _**ass from death?!"

"The married couple is fighting," Odd said to Jeremie amusingly, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, ODD!" Niome said. "If its all so easy then get your ass in the scanner and save your girlfriend!"

Odd put his hands up in a surrender. "I didn't say it was easy, my bad." He smirked.

"What are you so mad about anyway?" Silas asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "All of the sudden you start shouting insults.

"PMS…" Odd muttered to Jeremie.

"I'm not shouting! I'm simply telling them to you. But honestly, if you wouldn't have traded Aelita in, this would have never happened!" Niome shouted.

Odd and Jeremie exchanged glances.

"And you'd be dead," Silas said.

"So? Your point is? If I died, so would XANA's hamster Yumi."

"Listen, I'm sorry to interrupt the clone wars, but WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM!" Jeremie screamed, banging on the key board. The three others jumped, startled at his outbreak.

"Listen. Aelita is in trouble," Jeremie said, turning back to his computer. "This sector XANA created—it's unbelievable. It's digital structure is beyond anyone's belief. It's…amazing…"

"Your point?" Silas scoffed, glaring at Niome.

"This sector is special. It's quality is astounding. But in order the have that, it needs power. So XANA took power from other sectors and transferred it to Sector Six. But, the other sectors may lose power and delete themselves in order to keep the system running. So we either have to get Aelita to Sector Six or get her back on Earth."

"I vote Earth," Odd said.

"It's going to be hard. We don't have enough memory to transfer her back. Damn."

"So listen Jeremie, stop telling us the bad news and tell us what we can friggen do," Niome hissed.

"Look, XANA's clones are breaking through the factory doors!" Odd shouted, pointing to the video screen.

"We better hurry then," Odd said.

"Alright, I've got it. I drained some energy from XANA's support system and juiced it into the Ice sector. So, All I need to do is contact Aelita and tell her to stay there wile the other sectors delete themselves. I _should _have enough memory for Odd to get to Lyoko to escort her. And as for Niome and Silas, you two should fend off the monsters—"

"They're clones! Not monsters!" Silas and Niome said.

"What do you think I am, a monster? I take great offence in that Jeremie!" Niome said, crossing her arms. "If we weren't in a bad situation now I'd have slapped you!"

Jeremie buried his hands in his head. "Niome, please just take Silas and kill XANA's friends."

"We aren't XANA's—"

Before Niome could say another word, a gloved hand covered her mouth and dragged her back into the elevator.

"Good luck," Jeremie called.

"Silas!"

"Niome!"

Both glared.

"_Jeremie I'm ready,"_ Odd said through the intercom. "Transfer me now."

Jeremie nodded and pressed the keys.

…………………………………………………………

Bodies.

Everywhere.

Niome stood, her hands buried into her face, tears and snot streaming down. It ran onto her hands, pouring into her lap. Never before had she seen herself cry so hard, or so much tears. Before her lay the only person that ever mattered in her small world. The only one that kept her going.

_Silas…_

It had happened so fast.

The two had been trying to cut down the attacks going to the control room by defending the elevator wile Jeremie worked the keys and Odd was sent to Lyoko. No one had heard from Ulrich yet.

"This is _such_ a pain," Silas said, rolling his eyes. "I have to defend people who will probably die anyway. Why do people try so hard to live when they _know _they're going to die?"

"I don't know," Niome agreed, slumping against the cold metal walls of the elevator. It gave a deep jerk, but no one seemed to notice.

The two were quiet. Silas's eyes traveled to Niome. She looked like a broken angel. Her pale skin was covered with dirt, her smooth shiny black hair tangled and falling in front of her face. Her eyes, the strange violate, looked tired and distance. Everything about her seemed so broken, yet so beautiful.

"Niome."

"What?" she answered, irritated.

"I want you to know something."

"What?"

Silas was quiet for a moment, but spoke up. "You know, when I met you I didn't know anything. I was just like them. XANA's stupid puppet. But then, you showed me something…I don't know what. Something I'm not supposed to know."

Niome turned towards him and waited for him to say something else. But he didn't.

The two stood for a moment, the silence sinking in. Niome took a long breath. The crisp cold, smoky air filled her lungs and she let it all out.

And everything became so clear. Just by this one breath.

All of the months Niome had been alive, almost a year, was coming to an end. Niome was going to die. No one would know she was, for she was a clone. Just a ghost, like in that song. Even if she had helped all she could, killed herself, killed XANA, no one would care who the hell Niome Lyoko was.

_And yet…_

She would die today, yes, but she would fight. Fight for her existence. She would prove to the people she didn't even know that she was no mistake, and that her dysfunctional defect in her would bringer her good.

"Silas," she said. She stood up and slowly made her way over to him. He looked up, surprised.

"I love you."

Before he could react, Niome grabbed his hands. "We can't have a chance together, because we are going to die. But Silas, I'm ok with it. I'm tired. I just want to sleep forever. And if I die right now, with you, I can finally feel wanted and in peace."

Silas didn't know how to react. He pulled her close and pressed her against his muscular chest. The two were quiet. Niome understood that Silas didn't know what to say, and the silence between them was comfortable. Two clones aren't _supposed _to feel things for each other. But how the hell are you supposed to react?

Finally, the elevator gave a final jerk and opened.

Seven krabs aimed their guns at the two clones. Other of XANA's clones stood behind them, their weapons drawn.

Niome pulled away, gasping. Silas smirked and drew his weapon.

"Let's do what we do best, Niome."

Niome felt tears push to her eyes and she held onto the elevator railing for support. "S—"

"Let us fight, together."

_It's OK to let go, Niome. It's OK to die, right here, right now. Right now with the boy you love._

And she didn't need to be alive for more then a year to figure out what love was.

And so they fought.

Then _he _came.

Niome saw him in the corner of her eyes. "XANA?!" she screamed as something tackled her from the waist, slamming her into a wall.

"Niome!" Silas called after her.

"Her, cute clone," a voice hissed into her ear. A shiver sparked down her spine. "Get off!" she screamed and shoved him off. She could feel his dark eyes hit her face as soon as he pulled away.

"Poor you, so defenseless," he hissed and grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back. Niome squealed in pain and squinted her face. She felt a tear come to her face.

"Get off her, you ass!" Silas shouted and Niome was torn from XANA's grasp.

"Niome? Are you ok?" The clone was shaken, and XANA had probably broken her wrist.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"I've had enough of you, Niome. Always being such a pain," XANA said. He pointed towards her, collecting electricity in his hand. "Goodbye, clone."

As soon as he shot, as soon as the electricity left his hand, Silas saw everything move in slow motion.

He saw Niome crying with her wrists bleeding.

He saw Niome with her violate eyes, all alone.

He saw Niome with red eyes glowing, covered in blood.

He saw her staring into nothing at all.

He saw her screaming.

He saw her in fear.

He saw her frowning.

He saw her in pain.

Then why…why was it that she never smiled? Even when she knew nothing at all about XANA's plans, she didn't smile. Why? And then he saw something else. He saw that Niome was all he had, in his life. It was pathetic, and worthless, but she was all that mattered. Ever.

This was why he had to save her. Niome had to smile. For once.

And so he darted in front of the laser.

There was no regret her held, and it was like he had been forgiven for everything he had done. For kidnapping Aelita, for Lying, for killing. For being born.

Sure it hurt. Death always hurt. But not physically, mentally instead.

"Silas, please don't go! I love you! NO!"

Niome held him, catching him when he had fallen over. Tears stained his shirt.

"Oh god, please, NO!" Niome shouted desperately as XANA cursed himself for missing the damn girl, yet again.

"I see it, Niome. I see the light," Silas said. His eyes stared off into space.

"Shut up. You're not leavening me here."

Niome clung to him. "Please…you're all I have…"

And she was all he'd ever need.

…………………………………

"XANA you **bastard**!"

Aelita tossed another virtual rock. It hit a long slender tower, disappearing into it's walls.

Board with herself, Aelita stood up. She had been on Lyoko for only an hour, but it seemed like forever. XANA still hadn't arrived yet, which was part of her deal with him. This meant he was back on Earth and probably going to kill Odd, Jeremie, and Ulrich.

"I'm so stupid," Aelita said. "So dumb. How could I have listened." She banged her fists hard on her head. "You're always so naïve!"

The ground beneath her feet began to rumble a bit.

"Fuck," she breathed. "Now this? You're _kidding_ me."

Another hard rumble, enough to knock the poor elf-girl down. _What's happening? _

Aelita stood up and brushed her self off, only to notice a strange line in the distance.

"Oh **_wonderfu_**l," she said. "Another few of XANA's welcomes."

It took her a second to realize that the line was no monster. It was instead the sector disappearing.

"**Oh.Shit." **

Seeing the sector disappear before her very eyes gave her heart a heavy moment. Her own world, through her own eyes, was disappearing.

She had stalled too much time. Aelita darted towards the tower and leaped in, the ground beneath her feet just disappearing. Instead of landing onto the tower's platform, she had missed and rolled off to the side.

As she was falling, she saw the tower disappear into darkness, digital numbers drifting down.

……………………………………………………………

"Aelita? Aelita?" Jeremie called into his headset. "Please answer! Please!"

"She won't answer if you keep yelling at her," Odd said from the scanner. "Why haven't you transferred me yet?"

"Still trying to contact Aelita. I'm getting worried," Jeremie replied glumly. "The desert sector just deleted itself."

"Well the faster I get their the safer she is. 'Cmon Einstein."

After the keys went in, the process of the scanning was slow but finally pulled in. Odd felt himself finally virtualized after so long. It felt nice.

"Odd? Are you there?"

Odd opened his eyes and glances around. "Yup, I'm here." It'd been almost a year since Odd had been virtualized, so the sensations and virtual pulses running through him seemed unfamiliar at first. He stretched himself out a bit. "Any of XANA's friends yet?"

"Nope, this sector looks dead. Anyway, Aelita should be close."

Odd nodded, though no one could see him. It was a bit lonely as he made his way through the sector, praying that Aelita was safe.

"Odd, look out!"

Odd heard a faint whistle sound from behind his ear, but he didn't have much time to react. He was thrown off guard and something shoved into him from behind, hard. The tower was just a few feet away now.

"Oh god, you only have seventy life points left!" Jeremie sassed.

Odd flew to the ground, sliding across. Pain shot through his back and his knees.

"What the fuck?" He said, panting. He turned around to see a dark-hooded figure.

"You can try and catch her all you want, little boy. But it wont work," XANA said.

Odd's eyes traveled behind XANA, seeing the sector was deleting itself.

"Odd get out of there!" Jeremie shouted.

Odd darted into the tower before him, ignoring XANA's chants.

…………………………………

Another tower.

Aelita bunched her knees into her chest, huffing and puffing. The Forest sector was gone. The last sector that remained was the mountain sector. She had gone to the first tower she saw, which happened to be white. Biting her lip hard, she knew this was it.

Earth…

Everything she had ever wanted was before her right now. Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi…the four who had brought her back to life. That had loved her forever. And now, it seemed like if she left them, she would be betraying them.

And yet…

All she ever wanted was to go home. And maybe, Lyoko was her home. Maybe the Sixth Sector would hold the keys to her past, and even her father. Maybe she could live in peace. Maybe.

Aelita felt dizzy with all of these thoughts running through her head. She stood up, brushing herself off. _Which sector am I in now? I forget. Were's Odd? What's snow? _Memories flashed before her eyes, and her mind fell delusional. She took a few steps forward, but ended up stumbling backwards instead.

"Jeremie, am I sick? Please make it better."

Suddenly, someone burst into the tower. Odd.

"AELITA!"

Before he could scoop her in his arms and kiss her, before he could tell her it was OK, before he could do anything, Aelita's foot slipped from beneath her. And she began to fall.

"Aelita!" Odd shouted again, rushing towards her.

Aelita fell limp. Her eyes stared off, her body pushed towards the bottom of the tower. Her stare never left Odd's face as her fingers slid between his, but were too weak to grasp.

Isn't this what she wanted?

Her foot left the platform completely and she was falling down. Down the the abyss blackness of the tower. _Into nothing…_

Where would she fall? There was no more sector to catch her. She would fall endlessly, into the black hole of oblivion. Into something hidden deep within Lyoko.

Maybe she wouldn't. Who knew?

Then she hit something. Hard. It was like reality had hit her with a blow. The wind had been knocked out of her, and her head felt light. Her body trembled and ached, writhing in pain. Her eyes were open wide, but she couldn't see. It was as if every inch of light had been sucked out of the world and she was the only thing left.

Her body felt wait less. Could this bee…space? It seemed as if there was no gravity.

It was…water…?

But then…why did it hurt? Her chest, her head, her stomach, it all hurt. Her limbs were shaking, her eyes burning. The reason she couldn't breathe was because her mouth was clamped shut and her stomach was tight.

Water? Why did she feel water? Pain jolted through her body.

_It…hurts…_

_My head, Odd…It hurts…_

_Why…_

_Why is it that…_

_THERE'S NO PLACE THAT DOESN'T!?_

……………………………………………

"Niome! I was getting so worried—" Jeremie stopped. Niome staggered into the room, gripping onto her arm. Her head was down, her hair falling into her face. Part of her dress was ripped in the stomach area, revealing a long gash. Blood leaked from her mouth and dripped off her chin. For a second, he took his glasses off and rubbed them to see if he was just seeing things. The humidity was awful.

"Holy shit…are you alright?"

"Silas died today," Niome said, not even looking at him. Her head turned upwards, towards the ceiling. Jeremie noted her eyes, mixed between violate and red. They looked distant, as if she wasn't even there. "What do you believe, Jeremie?"

"About what?" Jeremie asked, confused. He stood up from his computer chair, about to rush to her aid.

"Where people go when they die. What do you think?"

"Me? Well uh—I don't know—" Jeremie stopped. "But wait…Niome…You need some help."

"Because we're different. I'm not human, you know?" Niome's eyes didn't return to him.

"Niome, what are you saying?"

The fragile clone turned to him, and suddenly a smile pushed onto her lips. It was small, but Jeremie could tell she was satisfied with herself for smiling. "Nothing," she said. She turned towards the elevator. She could have just walked right into it and never came back to this old factory.

But she didn't.

"Heaven," Jeremie said. He knew she was planning something in her head. She was planning to destroy XANA. And he knew, deep inside him, this would be the last time he would see her.

Niome stopped and turned to him. "What?"

"Some people, when they die, they go to heaven."

Niome's eyes turned back up to the ceiling. "I suppose so."

"I'll see you there, Niome."

Niome's smile still didn't leave. "I hope so."

And then she left, to be virtualized.

Jeremie's fingers ran across the keyboard, dancing on the controls. His glasses were fogged up. But it wasn't from the humidity.

…………………………………………

**Sucks balls. Don't like it, screw you. **

**I'm not in the mood. **

**It'd be funny if I just ended this story now xD**

**Lmfao.**

**I wonder what people would do.**

**I should.**

**If you don't review. **

**--;;**

**SOYEAH.**

**Fucking REVIEWWWWW.**


	26. The Puppet

**Ahh! Words can not describe how sorry I am for being such a lame ass updater. Pardon my French. ;D Anyway, So yes...this year has quieted down a bit. I'm doing a tad better then I have been, but I have all those freakin crappy projects. Ew at that. So yeah, I'm sorry for making you wait all the time. My fault on that one.**

**Sooo, about this chapter. It was so long, like eleven pages, I cut it down a tad. There is going to be like, one or two more chapters and an epilog. Come on, we're so close people! Oh yeah, and I have 169 reviews. Aha. 69. 8) I'm so immature.**

**Anyway, I bed you, PLEASE review. What if I never update again and end it? Dun dun dun. Do yeah, laters, and the next chapter should be out soon, because I cut this one so short and used the stuff I cut for the new one.**

**WARNING: My spelling is like a three year olds. BEWARE. **

_Oh…it hurts…_

Aelita's eyes open, her body still in pain. She's in water, but she doesn't feel like she needs to breathe. Her skin seemed to be changing, moving on it's own. Her limbs weakly floated.

_Why…why does it hurt so much…_

**gfsdzjkalfhkgiuh rekh, klafjdhvxjfz lgkerwj lkdzjdsmwiqefkkei0w**

"Aelita," Odd said. He had watched her plummet to the bottom of the tower. He had to go after her.

"There isn't any use," XANA said from behind. "She did this on her own will."

**hgkfdjl;kgxjjvbjkldfszjxkdjsljxhljlsdxjgbjkdsfdkghdf**

Odd ignored him and got ready to jump.

XANA sighed. "You're wasting your time, Della-Robbia."

And then Odd jumped down. The fall was longer then he expected.

"Let's hope I come home," he whispered. His mind wondered how Ulrich was, with Yumi. Was he OK?

Odd wisped right into a gray mist, which must have been the bottom of the tower. _When's the other sector going to load? _He thought. He didn't have time. The entire human race was going to end, and what's worse, Aelita sold her fate to a madman.

Odd didn't realize the ground was closer to him then he thought. BAM! He slammed right into a cold, hard rocky material.

"What the hell?!" he shouted, sitting up. He rubbed the side of his head. What? He could feel…pain was shooting up his side and his face. He pulled his hand from his cheek and stared. His hand looked real…as if he was in the real world…

"What is this place? Is this the sixth sector?" Odd asked himself.

"No," a voice said, chuckling a bit. It was hidden in the darkness.

Odd jumped at the sound, and scrambled off his feet, standing guard. "Show yourself," he whispered, though he knew it was XANA.

"So you do love her?" XANA asked thoughtfully.

"I'd die for her!" Odd shouted. "Now come out, I'll kick your ass!" Sure he sounded over confidant, and knew this wouldn't end well. But the thought of XANA lurking around him was just creepy. Finally, XANA appeared in his usual cloud of dark dust.

"That's good. Because you probably will."

Such words of comfort. Odd bit his lip.

"Odd, can you hear me?"

"Jeremie! You're—"

"No time to talk," Jeremie said. "I'm getting you your new weapon." After he hit a few keys, a sword was downloaded onto the screen. "There yet?"

Odd grasped the sword with both hands, panting. "Alright, I've got it."

Jeremie didn't reply, which had caused Odd to feel uneasy. "Jeremie?"

Nothing.

"Connection is lost. We end this now," XANA said, taking a few steps closer. "Even if you win, Lyoko will implode on itself. In needs me."

"WHAT! What about Aelita?!" Odd shouted. "Isn't that who you've wanted all along?!?"

"I never said she was in Lyoko."

Odd paused and stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. This was impossible. There was _no _way in seven hells Lyoko could be more then a computer, created and run by wires and a battery. There was no way it could be a _real _world...

Or...was there?

Gripping his sword, Odd grunted and charged at XANA. "If I die, I'll die saving her!"

**kjrdlhygxkdfdkjsfjmvcnxbjkzsdnASDMXZfnchkdjlsfxhcxdjsladjfs**

Ulrich leaned against an abandoned box, panting hard. Every muscle in his body was ordering him to give up, to stop fighting. He grasped a knife, admiring the wounds that covered his arms. He chafed them tenderly, attempting to get off all of the blood. He couldn't afford any fatal injuries. Grasping what was left of his military t-shirt, he tore of an end and mopped up his arms.

A noise made him jump, and he finished tieing his shirt around his upper arm. Gathering his weapons, he hurried along the rows of boxes.

Yumi would be catching up soon.

The boy had hardly managed to get away with his life. The girl was _strong._ A few months under XANA's training, this had been expected. But he had only managed to cut the side of her cheek, only leaving a small slit. She probably hadn't even bled yet.

Ulrich wanted more then ever to believe that Yumi was down there. That deep down, she was there. Even without her memories of the gang, maybe somewhere, she would realize that they were once her friend.

Was it possible?

"Oh, hello _darling,_" a voice snarled, and Ulrich yelped and swung himself around being face-to-face with death itself. Yumi's black eyes stared back at him.

"Yumi!" he shouted, backing away from her.

"Oh, are you really going to _run_?" Yumi asked, smirking as she stepped closer. "Always running. Why don't you face it, you're dead."

Ulrich glared at the girl. This _wasn't _Yumi.It couldn't be. The tough, fun-loving girl he used to no. It wasn't the girl who was obsessed with the Subsonics, it wasn't the girl who caught the eye of every boy in her grade. It wasn't the girl who loved karate. It wasn't her, it wasn't Yumi. Images of Yumi flashed through Ulrich's head just then, and every one of them was of Yumi. Her smile, her eyes, her clothes, everything...

"YUMI!" he shouted. She cornered him, pointing her sword at him. The tip of the blade touched his nose.

"Let me ask you something, before you kill me," he said. Yumi shrugged and laughed at his expression.

"Sure, it doesn't matter to me, really," she said. "Hurry up, I have things to do."

Ulrich glared at her, and spoke. "Yumi, tell me, are you happy?"

"What?" Yumi asked, taken back. "What do you mean, happy? What kind of question is that?"

"So answer it."

"It's stupid."

"I said, answer it."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Yumi shoved her foot into his stomach and he collapsed on the floor, writhing in pain.

"Are...you...happy?" Ulrich choked. He gasped for air, clinging to his stomach. "Does...XANA make you...happy?"

Yumi kicked again, harder. She turned her head away, fighting tears back. She didn't want to have Ulrich see her like this, no. Not now. "Why do you care?"

Ulrich mustered the last of his strength and stood up, this way he could be face to face with Yumi. Even though she had once been taller, he had grown much over the past year, causing Yumi to cringe as he towered over her. She felt small and weak compared to him.

"Because, Yumi—I—love..."

Before he could speak another word, Yumi backed away from him. She gripped her sword, her fingers shaking. "Stop. Don't." She wanted more then anything to run, but knew this was out of the question. "I have orders," her mind commanded. "Kill him, Yumi."

But her body betrayed her. Her mind was seized, and the aching pain in her chest was flaring up. She couldn't kill him, and she knew she never could. No matter how hard she tried, she could never kill the boy before her.

Yumi dropped her sword, letting go of XANA's companionship. "I...I want to know..." she began, finding it hard to get the right words out. "I want to know—who I was—who I am—"

She wrapped her arms around herself and began to weep. Ulrich limped over to her, smiling. She was back. Yumi Ishyama, was back.

Ulrich wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close to his chest. "Oh Yumi...I love you...so much..."

Yumi slid her arms around her neck. "I don't know what love is. But something tells me, I love you too."

The curse was broken. Yumi Ishyama was home.

**jkdfgsjld;kjdjgvjdxfljdgjfkdghdkjflhgklsdfhgkdslhgkldsfjhgdlkjsfghfdkj**

"_Am I... alive?"_

A hard, twisting knot formed in Aelita's stomach, and it felt as if her lungs were being crushed by an anvil. Her heart was beating so slowly, and she could hear it ringing through her ears, shattering her brain. Her lips quivered, her fingertips fell numb.

_Air...I need... AIR!_

The pain snapped her senses back into reality and she began to panic, clawing her way up to the surface of the water. She had suddenly felt the need to _breathe_. Any minute now Aelita's stomach was going to burst. As she panicked, her foot hit something solid. It was as if the ground had suddenly pushed at her feet. She could see the outline of this sun, watery and moving, like she was looking at it through glass. Aelita reached her hand out, her fingers grazing the sun's watery appearance. She swung her head up, breaking through the surface of the water.

Only then did she take the longest breath she had ever taken, letting air fill her lungs, replenishing the life buried inside of her. Her hair swung back, beads of water sparkling in a digital sun's light. She breathed again in soft pants, her hands on her knees, her wet hair falling into her face.

Aelita's eyes opened, confirming she was still alive. Though her head felt like a tilt-a-world, she was alive. She had almost forgotten how good it felt to breathe, to feel, too—

Wait one minute, _feel_?

Aelita suddenly faced the fact that she was somewhere, in Lyoko—well maybe in Lyoko—and she could feel? Not just touch, but the wetness of the water against her skin? What game was XANA playing—?

She ran her fingers down her arm, shivering at the light touch. It felt as if she was in the _real _world, as if all if this was real. Had Lyoko created a loop hole? Was she dumped on some weird place? She let her hand fall numbly to her side, bending down so it could touch the water.

Aelita turned around, facing an island. The golden sunset cast an eerie glow on it. It almost seemed so real...but...why?

_The 6__th__ sector...this was it..._

Aelita's heart began to race. She felt so sleepy, but her mind ordered her to explore. _Maybe I should take a nap, _she decided and trudged to the shoreline. Not bothering to go any further, she collapsed onto the damp sand. It felt so soft, so peaceful—as if she could just lay there—_forever._

**kdflhvkfdjhgkjfhdkgdflhgwdkjflsghdkjlsghkdfjlsghkjdflshgkf.**

Odd was finished.

He collapsed on his knees, his chest heaving up and down. XANA smirked from across the battle realm, noticing his opponent's weakness.

"Done all ready?" he asked, not bothering to hide the cockiness as he spoke. He swung his sword around so it rested on his back, knowing Odd wasn't in any shape to charge at him just yet. He had to wait a few moments, since he didn't want this battle to be _boring. _

Odd's stomach churned and he felt the sick feeling in his stomach spread up to his throat, as if he was going to vomit. His arms and legs were limp, falling freely to his sides as he collapsed onto the soft ground.

XANA smirked once more as he grasped his sword, swinging it around to his front and letting the tip drag onto the soft sand as he made his way over to where odd was laying. He picked him up by his collar, letting his crimson orbs bore into Odd's crisp blue eyes.

"She wanted it," he hissed. "It was Aelita's choice to leave Earth forever." Odd tried to squirm from his grasp, but it was no use. XANA swiftly dropped him on the ground in a heap, as if he was some form of dirty clothes. He took a few steps back and tapped his fingers on the neck of his long sword, wishing the last fight of Earth would have been more interesting.

"I guess I'll end it now," he said dully as he picked his sword back up and twisted into position, aiming towards the stumbling Odd. He pushed off the sand and charged forward, strait towards the blond.

_So this is it, Odd. This is how it ends._

Odd's body didn't react to XANA running towards him; instead he felt like standing their forever.

_It can't be over. I can't die like this._

Before XANA could take another step, before Odd was sliced in half—

A small knife flew from the darkness, taking XANA off guard. He turned his sword to the side, halting his charge enough to stop the blade from hitting the side of his head. A figure loomed from the shadows, zipping past XANA and sliding in front of Odd. IT had moved so fast, dist had settled in it's path, marking where it had been.

"What—?" XANA asked no one in particular.

Niome stood before him, her arm outstretched across Odd's path, a knife locked in her hands. Her head was faced down, hair falling into her eyes. Her muscles were tensed and she was ready to battle.

"You—shall—not—harm **him**."

Her voice was clear and crisp, demanding. She looked up, XANA's symbol showing in her eyes—the goldish eye standing out before it's crimson background. XANA could hardly believe this...his creation, his experiment, was now faced to kill him. He remembered how she had almost killed him before, when Yumi had stopped her. _I shouldn't have disposed if Yumi so quickly, _he thought, silently cursing himself. That sure wasn't a bold move on his part.

"I'm going to kill you!" Niome hissed, her teeth bearing, eyes glowing in a fierce light. XANA stepped back as she neared him, closing him in.

"I'm not stopping."

She charged at him, her eyes wide and clutching her knives.

_This is the end, XANA._

XANA blocked her knives, and threw her back quickly. He had never seen so much speed in her—though he knew every part of her so well. It was a shame she had taken Yumi's emotions and her light, or else she would have been the perfect weapon—much better then Yumi ever would be.

It wasn't long before their weapons clashed again, the clang of the metal ringing throughout the realm of darkness.

"Such a shame," XANA said, trying to hide the pain in his voice as Niome pushed his sword closer to him, trying to push it back. "A master and his own subject, fighting."

"I wouldn't even call you my master," Niome hissed between her teeth, narrowing her eyes.

"I was the one who created you."

"And _I'm _the one who's going to kill you!" Niome flung herself back and flew at him again, slicing his upper arm. XANA gasped at the pain, and grimaced. He regretted those tests done on her, making her stronger. He regretted creating her.

The battle merged on, and XANA found no weak spot in her. She was angry, he was guessing, at him. Angry at everything. The clear look in her eyes reflected that she didn't have any other thing on her mind besides his death.

XNA was left out of breath, finally staggering away from the girl as she huffed and puffed, apparently also tired. He reached a gloved hand into his hood and wiped his for head, heaving a large sigh.

"So you have grown strong, Niome."

Niome briefly gave a nod, narrowing her eyes his way. She glanced back at Odd, as if to make sure he was OK. XANA noted on this, spotting an opening for an attack. He gripped his sword and charged.

Niome, caught of guard, leaped up in the air, letting XANA's blade slice through her leg rather then her neck. She slid away from him, gripping her leg and wincing in pain as blood oozed from her wound.

A smirk played on XANA's lips as he took a few steps closer, once again planning to end the last hope for humanity surviving in a dramatic way. Niome tried to crawl away, but XANA swiftly stepped on her back and pushed her down flat on her stomach.

"I wish I could rip every inch of skin off your pretty face," He said as he loomed over her, leaning down towards her. "But, since we are in Lyoko, I can't. Gosh darn."

Niome didn't reply as she was roughly pulled up by the back of her shirt and tugged around, XANA gripping her collar. He pulled his face to hers closely, and the girl swore she could see the outline of crimson eyes illuminated from the darkness.

"I'll make it fun," he told her, his lips growing closer to her face. Niome turned away, which was exactly what XANA had been aiming for. His lips pressed against her ear and he couldn't hide a triumphant smirk as he whispered, "You are nothing. You are a..._nobody._"

Niome flinched at his words, feeling angered and uncomfortable as his lips pressed harder against her ear, and she bit back her lip trying to control a whimper of pain as something hard jabbed her stomach.

"You're just a clone...you can't save the world. You can't do anything," XANA teased.

Niome flung her legs at him, but it was too late, for he pulled roughly back from her and tossed her across the dark arena, her body sliding on the soft sand and nearly tipping off the edge of the piece of land. She clawed her way nearer to the center, gasping for air. XANA's words were like poison, seeping through her skin and melting her insides. She felt sick with herself for being created by this man—for being designed, enhanced—everything. If she hadn't been born, maybe Yumi would have still had her emotions, and memories, and she could have helped defeat XANA in the beginning before any of this had happened.

"You're my puppet, Niome," XANA went on as he neared her, bringing sheer terror to the clone's face. She tried to scramble away, but he once again picked her up and WAM, slammed her on the ground.

"You've been dancing on my fingers since you were alive, clone." A punch was delivered strait to Niome's stomach and she was dragged by her foot to the edge of the piece of land. "I've seen it all. The way you cried, you felt so alone. The way you tried to kill yourself, the way you felt about Silas—everything. I knew you would find Aelita, bring her here. I knew you would come to this very spot right now, I saw it. You were a finished book when you were created, a story planned out." XANA gave a chilling laugh, echoing into the darkness. "A few turns here and there, but I've made an ending." He grasped her once more and through her into the ground, then lazily sitting on top of her. His hand outstretched as he summoned a small knife, and held it closely to Niome's throat.

"Come with me now, puppet."

Niome attempted to push him off with the little strength she had, but found nothing. Beneath him she felt like a motionless puppet, created to let someone else make her do everything for them, like a servant. She was not XANA's slave, not his servant. She was most _defiantly _not his maid.

So what was she?

Niome Lyoko was no puppet, she was nothing. XANA may have been responsibly for her creation, but she suddenly believe that deep down, she wasn't anything at all like XANA's other creations. Unlike some, she had battled the seeds XANA had planted in her, and brought Silas to life, and even warned Odd about XANA's plans from the beginning. Her life may have been a story, but she was certainly not having XANA be the author.

"I am no puppet, XANA."

Suddenly, it was as if a burst of energy had soured through her body and she shoved him off of her, standing up franticly and running away from him before the feeling had faded. She could have swore for a second something had opened inside of her, like her heart being split open into some strange source being unleashed.

She felt power, and as blood dripped from her mouth, her limbs ached, her body felt like it was going to claps, and felt Lyoko suddenly be re-connected into a whole new world. A world of Lyoko, but the laws of reality and artificial intelligence suddenly became bent.

Niome was unstoppable.

She knew what she had to do, what she _must _do. She had sworn to herself she would protect the place she held dear, and this was it. This was the time to prove she was good once and for all, to confirm she could save humanity without even being a human herself. She didn't know who she was saving, but she did know what she was saving—the entire world, which may be broken, but still...the hopes of the people were not gone.

Niome outstretched her arm and summoned a knife, and grasped it with her hands. The feeling had passed inside of her, leaving a large gap in her chest, but she could feel different blood flow through her veins. The blood of a warrior.

"This ends NOW!"

The clones sprinted towards XANA, giving him almost no time to react. She leaped on him, tackling over as a knife was jammed into his stomach.

Time on Lyoko had stopped. For a second, everything moved in slow motion as the knife sunk lower into his flesh, and XANA's hood was flipped backwards, revealing his face.

The face of a boy, maybe in his late teens, was suddenly revealed behind the hood. Long dark hair was tied back into a pony tail, and Niome and he had stared at each other for what seemed like eons.

"You can't kill me!" he growled.

"I wasn't finished," Niome whispered as she looked down at her knife. There, sizzling away was a flap of paper.

_Exploding tag. _

XANA's eyes widened and he stared into Niome's mesmerizing violate orbs. The world faded around him as the tag exploded on both of them.

_I knew you could do it, Niome._

**kdjfhgdjhgsdlkfkhgdkjflshgkjlfshgkldfjshgdkjlfsghk**

**Ew. It didn't put my line breaker things in. So i had to replace this chapter with the old one. GO ME! 8D**

**So yeah, R&R. :) **


	27. This Lullaby

**Eeeek, I'm alive. So sorry for crappy spelling, and some funny typos. I always do that. My spell check sucks balls. Anyway, enjoyyy!**

_T_he world shattered and broke around Niome when she felt the pain of a thousand knives being thrown at her face and legs. Her eyes widened as book leaked through her skin, the explosion penetrating her skin. Her bones, frail and small, seemed to break and she was thrown backwards. In the mist of it all, she threw her arms upwards and reached towards the sky, tears stinging her eyes as she muffled back a sob.

_Heaven..._

The bleak walls of decay and darkness seemed to fade at once, as well as the pain swelling in her body.

Niome was dropped like dirty bag of clothes onto something hard. She sat up, rubbing the side of her head and wincing at the pain. Where was she? Heaven?

As she glanced around the room, looking at the white walls paved in sunlight, she grimaced. Heaven sure seemed less god-like then she had expected, but she had to admit it looked nice.

But still. One minute, she had been in Lyoko in an awful pain—and now, where was she?

"Hello, Princess," someone said. Niome scrambled up, swinging around to see Silas, giving her a nice smirk right back at her. For a second, time stood still as her eyes widened and she stepped back.

"It's not real." It couldn't be real. Silas was dead; XANA had killed him. Who was standing before her now? It could be any one of XANA's stupid clones—they all looked alike. Niome chewed on her lip, taking another step back. It's an image XANA made, she told herself. He's making fun of me.

Silas smirked again, taking a few steps towards her, giving a slight chuckled. "Niome. It's me, Silas."

"I don't believe you," she hissed.

The smirk disappeared on Silas's face, and he frowned. "Why not?"

"You died."

Silas nodded. "And so did you?"

"I'm...dead...?"

"Almost," Silas admitted. "Unless someone can save you in Lyoko, you're dead."

Niome had known this ever since she had jammed the knife in XANA's chest, and she wasn't expecting to have survived at all. _This must be heaven then, _she thought and took another brief look around.

Nice place. Roomy, comfy, some cushion chairs.

"I still don't believe you," Niome said. She glared at him, narrowing her eyes in discus. "You're a trick from XANA, I know it! I'm still in Lyoko."

Silas stared at her for a moment, before heaving a sigh. "Where do you Clones go when they die."

"I don't know..."

"They go home."

"Home?"

"Yes."

"Silas...I don't understand..."

Silas finally had inched his way over closer to her, and grasped his hands with hers. He stared down at her, his dark eyes carrying a sudden light to them—as if holding something great, like a shining pride. "There are so many things we don't understand in this world, Niome. So many things people don't believe. But please, Niome, I beg you, believe in me. We can stay here, together...forever..."

Niome was then suddenly pulled into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer to him. Niome felt tears spring to her eyes and she despritly clung to his shirt, as if she was begging him to stay.

"Just let go," Silas whispered.

Reality was coming back, and Niome could only gasp as the pain started as a dull acheing in her heart and flared to the rest of her body. Her body was rejecting, trying to bring itself back to life—that was the way XANA had designed her. She wasn't meant to die, not like this.

"_Just let go, Niome. You've been fighting for all your life, and now, you can stay and live in peace..."_

Silas's words faded out as Niome was tossed back into reality, feeling herself slammed with the pain, Odd's arms wrapped around her, pleading her to wake up. She was coming back, back to Earth.

"O...Odd...?" she whispered, trying to swallow the blood climbing up her throat. She felt dazed, as if she wasn't sure she was back on Lyoko—had she even seen Silas? Was she just knocked out after the explosion—or...?

The questions buzzing through her head made her headache worsen, and she felt numb all over. The pain was dulling on the outside. Her body was fighting to stay alive, her senses and artificial heart fighting to beat normally.

Niome looked across the realm at XANA, who was a few yards away. She suddenly forced a small smile and turned to Odd, who was babbling away at how happy he was to have her alive and how much he thought she was dead. Ignoring his words, she began to crawl over to the body of her creator. XANA was young; he looked hardly in his twenties. It was hard to believe he was a mastermind of evil.

"So," she whispered in a harsh voice at XANA, who was twitching and jerking, his face splattered with blood. His chest had a hole in it, and it was hard to believe he was still alive. "I win."

XANA turned his head, his eyes boring into her violate orbs. "So you do."

Niome felt a small pinch of regret, for the boy before her looked like a helpless person—not like the old man she was expecting. She blinked a few times, getting her thoughts strait, and leaned over too him, kissing him lightly on his pale lips.

"Goodbye, XANA," she said, using the last amount of strength left in her body. As Odd dragged her away, yelling death threats at XANA, the two locked eyes and stared. Niome gave him a short smile, and she leaned back against the soft sand and sighed.

"Hang on, Niome," Odd said. "We can get you out. I just need to find something—a tower—and we can contact Jeremie and—"

"Odd," Niome whispered, closing her eyes. "Don't bother."

"Why?!" Odd wailed, giving her a small shake. "We can't have you die. Not like this. Not now! We're so close..."

Niome paused before answering, opening her eyes so she could get a full look at him. He looked so much more different then she had pictured him. He wasn't scrawny at all, but muscular and filled-out. He looked like a man now, not a boy. He must have grown so much during the year. "I'm giving it back."

"What?" Odd demanded. "What did you just say?"

Niome smiled and closed her eyes, and Odd suddenly saw the look on her face—so peaceful, not tense at all. Her expression made him depressed, because it was so still.

The corners of her pink lips turned into a small smile, and she slowly broke apart—bits of digital matter breaking from her legs, her arms, her chest.

"Niome! NO!" Odd shouted and he scrambled up, almost wanting to reach out and grab them. He swore they looked like little birds, flying away—as if they were free from something.

_Caged bird, _he thought to himself and stared in aw as they disappeared into the darkness.

He closed his eyes, suddenly knowing, Niome was in a better place. Where? He did not know—all he knew was that she was somewhere, where all people who weren't really made naturally go.

**Kshjdsfhdksfdjsklfhkdsjlfhdjkshfdkjslhfdjkslfhkdjslhfkjds.**

"What the FUCK!" Jeremie shouted, banging his fists onto the keyboard. Ulrich and Yumi stood hand in hand, flinching as their blond friend cursed and shouted at the super computer before them.

"There's no connection," he explained in a rush. "Why is there no connection?"

Yumi and Ulrich shared a look, and Ulrich quietly mumbled, "there hasn't been connection for the past two hours."

"Thank god nothing has broken through yet," Yumi stated, pointing to the camera screens on the computer. "Or else we would have been in real trouble."

Jeremie nodded briefly, taking their small words of hope for granted. They were right; at least the monsters hadn't broken through yet.

Suddenly, a familiar code popped up on the screen. Jeremie snapped from his trace and his fingers glided across the key board.

Yumi suddenly felt a horrifying pain smash her lungs and she leaned against Ulrich for support as she collapsed to the ground.

"YUMI!" Ulrich screamed, kneeling next to her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, attempting to verify if she was alive. He leaned his ear onto her chest and listened, but heard no heard beat. His hands grasped her own, feeling her wrist for a pulse.

Nothing.

"Wha—what happened?" he asked, suddenly in a daze. "What happened...Yumi... are you...?"

"Niome's dead!" Jeremie shouted.

"WHAT?!" Ulrich tore away from Yumi and jumped up, shoveling Jeremie away from the computer chair. His eyes scanned the screen, praying Niome was still alive—if she died, that meant Yumi was a goner.

And he couldn't let that happen. For Niome's sake, and Yumi's.

"I'm going to Lyoko," he stated. "Get the scanner ready."

"You can't," Jeremie protested. "I don't have enough memory to transfer you. Getting Niome directly to the sixth sector was hard enough—and Lyoko's system us unstable."

"So what am I supposed to do? Let both of them die!"

Jeremie's throat closed up as he spoke the words, "They already are dead."

Ulrich suddenly felt as if his heart was being ripped out, his organs were being crushed. He sucked in a deep breath, anger rising up his throat and flooding into his brain. He couldn't save her... he couldn't have save Yumi. He couldn't save anyone...

Tears sprung to his eyes and he collapsed around Yumi, suddenly letting out a large sob.

"Y...Yumi—please...WAKE UP!"

Jeremie held back tears as he turned back to the computer screen, then noticing the familiar code. It was a transfer code.

**Transfer: Alien File.**

**Type: 345.di**

**Location: S. 5.5**

Jeremie blinked a few times. It was being transferred from sector six. Wait, what? Five and a half? Jeremie felt his vision was betraying him, for there was no way they could be fighting between the sectors, right?

The computer screen began to shake, and Jeremie pushed back his chair and gasped his surprise as an eerie liquid fog had burst from one of the controls, looking much like XANA's form when he was attacking.

"ULRICH!" he shouted as the fog oozed passed him and headed for Yumi and Ulrich.

Ulrich turned around, his eyes widening as the fog passed through him...and strait into Yumi.

Yumi's eyes snapped open and she gasped, as if the life was being knocked back into her. She grasped Ulrich's hand as her eyelashes flickered a few times, and she fell back onto the floor and breathed hard, panting away. Ulrich gripped her hand as he loomed over her, his heart beating in panic.

"Yumi...Are you—"

"I REMEMBER!" She shouted suddenly, throwing her arms around Ulrich's neck. "I REMEMBER—you, and them and...and..." before she could finish, she burst out crying and buried her face into Ulrich's neck and sobbed.

"It was Niome," Jeremie said. "She gave up her life to give Yumi back her memories."

Ulrich patted Yumi's back and nodded, suddenly feeling awful for Niome, and wondering why she would do such a thing for people who had hated her.

"She's coming in," Jeremie said. "Let's get her."

In the scanner room, the crisp golden doors of the scanners parted open, a bright light engulfing the room before the bloody body of a young girl collapsed into the waiting arms of Jeremie and Ulrich.

Yumi's tears grew thicker when she had saw her, and suddenly she knelt down beside her clone and balled her eyes out. "I'm such an awful person..." she shouted.

"No," Jeremie said as Ulrich once again held her close to him. "She did this because she wanted to." He knew she had known she was going to die all along, he could tell. Ever since Niome had been asked to go travel to Sector Six, he could see her suicide mission coming. It didn't hit him hard, but it did make his heart feel heavy and he and Ulrich quietly had dragged Niome's body into the elevator, resting it next to Silas's.

"I hope they rest in peace," Yumi said.

"They will," Ulrich told her, and took her hand.

"This was all for me. I still can't believe it."

"It wasn't only for you, it was for everyone."

Yumi nodded up at him and smiled a bit, leaning against him. "Does this mean it's over?"

Ulrich didn't answer, for he wasn't sure what to say. An eerie silence was outside, meaning it was either just in time or too late. "Jeremie, is there any chance Odd is getting back?"

"Slim chance, I'm not even sure," Jeremie replied from the elevator.

**Kshjdsfhdksfdjsklfhkdsjlfhdjkshfdkjslhfdjkslfhkdjslhfkjds.**

Aelita had woken up by a sudden jolt going through Lyoko, a pulse like a heart beat. She was still in the sand, the waves licking her toes and giving her a chill. Night had fallen, and millions of stars specked the sky, lighting up the island around her. The girl sat up, her head spinning, and her mind blank. _Oh, right...sector sixth..._

How could she have forgotten?

Pushing herself up with her hands, she dusted of her normal Lyoko outfit and turned towards the horizon, where she believed the other sectors were. Like a chain. All connected...

Someone was there, across the sea and into the horizon. The end of the sector, or so she believed. Someone was there, maybe even a few people—things, she could tell.

Then it hit.

Suddenly, some enormous wave of air swooped across the ocean like a thousand explosions all at once. Aelita was knocked back on her butt, hearing the whistle of the hissing wind scream her way and she flailed her arms, attempting to cover her ears. Screwing her eyes shut, she felt something stir deep inside of her, a feeling, a...

_M__**e**__m__o__r__**y**_...

XANA was dead.

Aelita knew it, not because Lyoko was suddenly thrown into a panic, the ocean a frenzy of white foam and the trees thrashing about, but because her memory suddenly flooded back to her mind, a memory of her father, her home, even being born...everything. In a blink of an eye, it was gone, and Aelita suddenly realized Lyoko was doomed. Why hadn't it fallen yet? She should be dead now, a strip of data—but no, she was here. How? XANA was gone, and XANA _was _Lyoko, so...

And then it hit her, just as powerful as the explosion had. And wile Lyoko panicked around her, sheer chaos sweeping the island paradise. Something had happened, something that had changed the course of Lyoko's fate, changed the course of _Aelita's_ fate.

Curled onto the ground in a protective ball, Aelita felt her body begin to flair up in pain—the same pain she had felt wile in the water, wile coming the to sector. Needles of pain sparked her back, particularly by her shoulder blades.

_What was happening...?_

Fast as bullets, something shot out of her back, erupting a scream of pain from Aelita's throat. Another thing shot out, more pain of skin ripping, bones shifting, her structure changing. Aelita felt tears spring to her eyes, her hands flying to her back, screaming She was praying this would all be over, that she would wake up next to Yuna, in one of XANA's chambers, anything. Anywhere but here, anywhere but in this place that defined the line between man-made virtual artificial intelligence, and just plain reality.

It had to be a dream..._had _to.

Aelita felt her throat close up and her pain die down into a dull aching in her back. She felt strange all of the sudden, like something was on her back, hanging on with claws into her skin. She screwed her eyes shut, letting her hand reach back and graze the skin of her spine before it came upon something hard, fleshy, sticking out of her back.

Aelita's eyes shot open and she panicked, knowing that she had just sprouted wings—actual _wings_—on her back, just moments ago.

Jerking her arms back like she had just felt a bug on her, she stood up. The wait of the wings caused her to stumble around in the soft sand for a few moments before lopsidedly walking towards the ocean water, the waves licking her toes. She took a breath, her body warn out, aching.

And then it hit her.

The missing piece in her wasn't her memories, it wasn't a virus, but it was XANA. XANA himself had been a part of her, and now, her heart was hallow, missing him. He wasn't there any more, he wasn't anywhere. It wasn't the dimness in the sky, the silence of the waves, the dieing of the wind that told her XANA was dead, but it was her hard, slow and aching, announcing something inside of her had died.

_XANA..._

What happened?

Across the horizon was the black sky made up of a thousand stars, and Aelita knew that Odd was just beyond that horizon. She took a long breath, her heart pounding.

_But what makes you human is what makes you stronger. Facing anger, pain, regret, jealousy, sadness, and all of these things are what make you who you are. And now, I am going to face all of these things alone. Because I want to be human, and I want to be a part of this world._

Aelita knew this was it for her, for Odd, for anyone. She loved Odd more then she had ever loved anything, and she would stop at nothing to make sure he lived his life, even if she wouldn't be able to live it with him. She pulled her arms forward, flexing her new wings, connecting her hands shaping them like a triangle.

And she did what she had done in the beginning.

Across the horizon, where the sky had met the ocean, a slim blue light opened up, bending the gap between reality and artificial intelligence. Aelita sang, her voice rising across the ocean, the calm waves beginning to turn rough, the trees becoming angry once more. The world shook around her, the waves lashed her feet, but she sang on, opening the entrance wider, using all of the strength she had to offer.

**Kshjdsfhdksfdjsklfhkdsjlfhdjkshfdkjslhfdjkslfhkdjslhfkjds.**

Moments passed after Naomi was broken into pieces and shattered into doves before the ground began to shake. Odd gasped, falling onto his knees. Lyoko was in a frenzy, pulsations stronger then any before were shaking the once solid virtual realms. He knew it was because of XANA, and was sure he was probably going to die.

The pulsations lasted for a few more moments before the ground suddenly dropped from under his feet and he felt himself falling, a dark cloud trying to cover him.

_No!_ his insides screamed, but the words refused to escape his lips. Odd thrashed his arms and kicked, attempting too fight off the dark clouds.

_No, not now. Not until I see her one last time..._

And then he saw it. Something blue in front of him, a light, suddenly poured through the darkness, lighting the deleting sector. He opened his eyes, wide, as the light engulfed him.

Odd was suddenly flying, his eyes closed, a spray of water beneath him. He was going so fast, backwards, laying down as if he was sleeping. _Am I dreaming?_

This time, he wasn't so sure.

**Kshjdsfhdksfdjsklfhkdsjlfhdjkshfdkjslhfdjkslfhkdjslhfkjds.**

The blue light across the horizon was a like a sun, except it left the world completely dim and beautiful. Aelita could feel Odd traveling towards her, and her blood flow quickened and her heart began to beat out of control. She closed her eyes, taking a breath, her body shaking from nervousness. _I did it, _she thought. _He's OK. Everyone is. I saved them all..._

**Kshjdsfhdksfdjsklfhkdsjlfhdjkshfdkjslhfdjkslfhkdjslhfkjds.**

"What. The. Hell."

Jeremie's hands retreated from their worthy position at the keyboard of the super computer, his eyes scanning the screen. Suddenly, a burst of color had erupted from the circuits—visual scanning of an island, numbers going insane, and a whole new foreign code—one like he had never seen before in the years he had spent at his computer. His brain was pulsing, and these new codes were from another sector—a new one. But this place was different.

"Amazing!" he exclaimed as Ulrich and Yumi peeked over his shoulder. "Impossibly amazing."

"What is?" Ulrich demanded. "Did you find Odd?"

"YES! And even Aelita! This is where XANA put her—another sector. But this isn't just a sector. The code is the same material I use to transfer a human to Lyoko. It's almost..."

"..._real._" Yumi finished, her eyes wide.

"Aelita must have used her powers to bend the sectors and open up a portal to rescue Odd. She also opened it up enough for me to have communication." Saying this, Jeremie twisted the knob of a computer for the volume. Static rung through his ears.

"Can you bring Odd and Aelita back?" Ulrich asked.

Jeremie typed in a few keys, and his face fell. "I don't have enough virtual memory."

"Does this mean...?" Yumi began, but she was to afraid to finish.

"I don't know."

"Jeremie?" Aelita's voice said through the static, and the blond nerd jumped, his heart nearly stopping.

"Aelita?!" he demanded. "Aelita, are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," she said, her voice now clear. "I've got a way to bring Odd back to your world. He'll be home in a sec. Is everyone alright?"

"We're fine!" Ulrich shouted into the headpiece as he wrestled Jeremie for it. Yumi snatched it from his hand.

"Aelita? It's Yumi. I'm alright now."

"Oh Yumi! I've got to go, I need to make sure Odd gets here. I'm not sure if I'll be coming back."

"What?"

"Tell Jeremie and Ulrich I love them please."

"Aelita! Wait!" Yumi shouted, and both Ulrich and Jeremie stopped their wrestling and turned towards her.

There was no reply, only the sound of static it has just made before.

**Kshjdsfhdksfdjsklfhkdsjlfhdjkshfdkjslhfdjkslfhkdjslhfkjds.**

Odd was peaceful, flying, a spray of water hitting his back. And then, WAM.

He fell.

Odd slammed into icy black water, were it smothered his body and burned his throat. His eyes stung as he splashed around, flipping occasionally and gasping for air. Finally, after doing one more flip, his back hit solid ground and he sat up, coughing and sputtering, his nose burning. He opened his eyes, noticing his surroundings. Another wave crashed into his legs and he staggered forward, eager to get out of the water as fast as possible.

"Odd!" someone called, his name sounding far and distance. Before He could even shiver from being out of the water finally, his eyes locked with the green eyes of Aelita Hopper.

So she had saved him.

They stood for a moment, taking each other in. He noted Aelita's wings, her tousled hair, her pupiless eyes. She took in his shorter hair, muscular buff shoulders, taller and more man-like face.

"After all of this," he said, his voice hardly audibly. "You still save my ass."

Aelita smiled, her hand covering her mouth. Tears suddenly swelled out of her eyes.

"After all of this...you still saved me." she felt herself swallow a sob. "Fool."

Odd slowly took a step forward, and then another, and another. Aelita was still crying, her tears pouring from her eyes and landing on the sandy beach. Odd caught her hands and held them, his thumb wiping a stray tear from her eye.

"Of course I came," he whispered, his face inches from her. "I will always save you, princess."

The gap between their lips closed.

Around them, Lyoko gave a sudden shake, as if attempting to break them apart. But Odd wrapped his arms around her waist and she put her arms around his neck, hanging on for dear life. The blue sun had shown brighter, and the wind hissed and waves tossed.

With one kiss, a lifetime of love had been passed, in just one moment. Aelita pulled away, her hand resting on his cheek. She smiled, her tears long gone.

"You know you have to go back now," she said, her voice smooth as silk. Odd shook his head briefly, his grip tightening around her.

"Not yet," he murmured by her ear. "Not now."

Their brief moment of meeting hadn't been enough at all. The blue light from across the horizon was fading, and Aelita knew it was time for Odd to return back onto Earth. Back to the world where she didn't belong.

There was so much she could have told him. But she didn't have to, because he lips were once again hushed with another breathtaking kiss. Lyoko jolted around them, a breeze gently pushing the calm waves, as if singing a lullaby of approval. As if her father was singing to her, just as he had when he was a child.

Only this time, this lullaby was hers. Hers and Odd's.

"I love you," Odd whispered, and she pressed her forehead against his. "I always will, I promise."

"I love you," she said back in a hushed voice. Aelita closed her eyes and smiled, their breath patterns the same. She cupped his face with her hand, knowing that this was it. It was time.

Odd felt himself being pushed away, becoming lighter...so light he could feel as if he was floating. He felt Aelita's hand leave his face, and he fell backwards, and was flying again. This time towards a light, one so bright he was 99.9 percent sure he was dead and going to the afterlife.

_I love you Aelita,_ he thought. _I always will...I promise you, princess._

In the distance, like a far-off voice, he could hear someone singing. The voice was faint, but he could still hear a melody, a soft sing-song voice flowing through his ears. The lullaby was from _her, _and this he knew. It was for him, and him alone.

Aelita would be here forever. Odd knew this, and as much as he wished he could have stayed with her, it wouldn't be right. Someday, he knew, they would meet again—

_Somewhere, Someday._

The lullaby continued on until he felt himself enter the place, between virtual relms, past Lyoko, bending reality, between what's real and what's fake. He found himself bending gravity, flying through the worlds like a shooting star. He and Aelita were parallel, just as Lyoko and Earth were. They would never cross, never in a lifetime. But they would stand along side each other, even though they were a whole world apart.

_Shooting stars..._

**ALAS. I'm finished! Not with the whole thing, duhh. With this chapter. So sorry for the long wait, it's just, ehh. I don't even know. I'm in an ok mood so I decided to finish it wile listening to some depressing Death Cab for Cutie song. Yeahh so, there will be one more chapter and an epilogue. I would LOVE to do a sequel, but why ruin the perfect ending? **


	28. The Legend

**Last chapter! Oh no! Listening to Circa Survive—adds to this dramatic chapter. Listen to "Your friends are gone." Bangin' song right there. **

* * *

Metal hinges screeched as the scanner door pulled open, almost simultaneously as the elevator doors tore themselves apart. When the mist cleared, Yumi sprinted towards the opening scanner.

Odd wobbled as his limbs finally got themselves apart, and suddenly realized he was alive—he felt his chest, solid, real; his heart, beating fast and full of life.

Then why did he feel so empty?

Exhausted, he collapsed into the arms of awaiting Yumi, who wrapped her long arms around his small frame and squeezed with all her might.

"Odd—ODD!" she shouted, tears pooling at her eyes. Confused for a moment, Odd pried himself loose from her grasp and looked at his now sniffling and tear-stained friend.

"It's me, it's Yumi—_really _me—I'm back. You're back. We're all back!" Yumi threw her arms around him once more and cried into his shoulder, her sobs of joy and sorrow shaking through her and onto him, and he suddenly felt even more empty then he had when he'd first awakened.

"We aren't all back."

Not startled, she looked up, her tear-filled eyes full of knowingness. "Yes. We aren't, are we?"

Yumi stood up, grabbing Odd's hand and holding onto it even as she pulled him up onto his feet. Regaining his balance, he glanced around the scanner room, hoping that Aelita would appear from behind the closed doors, materialized and _real._

But, as he stepped onto the elevator, Yumi still holding his hand, he realized that Aelita, his love, his best friend, was truly gone.

The elevator heaved and lurched to the computer room, where Jeremie was standing apologetically by the awaiting doors, Ulrich at his side. For a moment, the four stood still, drinking each other in, as if they'd forgotten what each other had looked like over the past few months. Odd looked at his closest friends, seeing them for what they truly were; Yumi, the tough-but-loyal friend. Jeremie, the smart, understanding, friend. And Ulrich, the friend that would protect you with your life, do anything for you.

And then, behind him, somewhere in Lyoko—no, somewhere beyond Lyoko—was Aelita, an eternally frozen digital girl, who'd stole his heart, who'd been much more then what she came off as.

Aelita.

In silence, they all moved forward at the same exact time. Arms reached out, bodies together, and without words they said so much in just a few moments, making a silent promise. They were all inseparable; wound together like links on a chain, the true four who had discovered this messy factory, who'd fought XANA, who'd dodged his attempts, and saved the world. The same four who would walk out together into a world that was shadowed by this war, and maybe even become heroes.

Through this, they vowed, they would stay friends, no matter what had happened in their lives, whoever may die, they will still be inseparable.

In this world, and the next.

The four stepped back into the elevator, taking it back up to the ground floor. With their arms around each other, they stepped out into the awaiting crowed of soldiers, located on a battlefield that had once been the river. Now, of course, it was a field filled with dead bodies, belonging to both sides of the enemies; humans and XANAs. The soldiers were celebrating, dancing and whooping and crying as the sun dipped below the rolling desert dunes, casting a golden glow over the paralyzed machinery bodies that lay before them.

Unconsciously, suddenly Ulrich tore apart from the group and walked slowly over towards a pile of scrap metal, which once may have belonged a krab. He took the claw in his arm, examining it for a moment, before he reached down and plucked a piece of scrap metal from what appeared to be the brain of a disembodied block.

Quietly, he scraped the edge of the sharp krab claw against the block's skin, until it became engraved. For nearly ten minutes, as Yumi and Jeremie were occupied in surveying the battlefield, Odd stood above him, watching him carve into the block's heard with the claw.

Finally, when he was finished, the scrap read: XANA'S WAR.

"It is his war," Ulrich then said, standing up, holding out the metal piece to Odd. "I want people to remember that. To remember XANA."

The four, Odd knew, would become heroes when this was done—why, Yumi and Jeremie were already getting assaulted with hugs from the surviving soldiers from the battle field, their shouts and cries echoing into the twilight air.

Odd looked back at Ulrich, and he at once understood what this mean. This piece was the last that was left of XANA. The rest of him was gone, shattered into microscopic digital bits, scattered into the remaining parts of Lyoko that would soon no longer exist. This was his war. This was his legend.

Odd leaned the metal up against the factory wall so that the words faced out into the battle field. Cries, shouts, screams, all came from the hallow shells and ghosts of what had once been XANA's warriors, their bodies being thrashed and kicked until they were practically nonexistent.

Odd put his arm around Ulrich, wile Jeremie and Yumi rejoined with the two. They stood like that, clinging onto each other, standing out and facing the setting sun.

The war was over.

They had lost so many; Odd had no more family, Ulrich's father had been killed, who knows about Jeremie's family. Yumi's brother had been killed when she'd been captured, all those months ago.

But not, as the sun set, the four looked out into a new beginning—the face of the future they'd been dreaming they would once had. The future without XANA, where the world was safe from destruction, holding normal and happy lives for all of them. In that dream, however, Aelita had been standing right beside them, her arm linked with theirs, her face just as hopeful as all of their own.

"We came in as four," Yumi said to no one in particular, "And here we are, leaving as four."

They boys nodded.

The world had been molded together by XANA; perhaps it was good this war had even happened. Nearly three billion people had been killed during his furious reign, and the rest had banned together to try to fight back, to stop and put and end to this war. Boundaries had been covered by thick layers of desert sand; race was suddenly labeled as: survivor. Despite your heritage, your skin color.

It was all truly over.

The world needed to rebuild itself. The people would work together and make something of it all, clean up the mess, start over. XANA would not get in their way. Maybe wars would not even happen again; who knew?

"It's over," said Yumi, smiling. "We're free."

"We're heroes," Jeremie said, almost laughing. "I can't believe it."

"I guess we are," Ulrich said quietly, "But you know, we still have a lot of work to be done before we can be praised."

"I say we dedicate this moment to Aelita," Odd said suddenly, not bothering to look at his friends. They all nodded solemnly.

"To Aelita," they chanted.

"To Aelita." Odd whispered.

The sun slid under the dunes; night had begun. But for Odd and his friends, it was a new day that began for him, XANA free.

All that was left was the start over.

_**T**_h**e En**d

* * *

**Ha, can you believe it? IT'S OVER. Well, sort of, I've got a short epilog I was planning to do, so eh, let's give it a try. I'm planning on also going through and re-doing things; someday. Not now. Not soon. **

**Not the ending I'd hoped to have, but then again, I'm not sure what I'd hoped at all. I mean, what are they supposed to do? Mushy-ending? Please. Let's be realistic. **

**Hope you enjoyed it! I loved writing it. 2 years old, baby! Came up with the idea by watching **_**We were Soldiers. **_**Don't ask. Didn't think many people would like it.**

**Thanks for all your support! Short sequel epilog, and then it's done. Thank you very much. **


End file.
